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/^   HwC^*'^     m 


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v^„ijo^,„^ 


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THOMPSON  U 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Larry  Laughlin 


RECESSIONAL 


VJOD  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old, 
Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle-line. 

Beneath  whose  awful  Hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine  — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget ! 


Far-called,  our  navies  melt  away; 

On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire : 
Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 

Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre! 
Judge  of  the  Nations,  spare  us  yet. 
Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget! 


RUDYARD   KIPLING 


-o  ^ir^^iTt-rijitr^ 


The  Kaiser:     "You  See  You  Have  Lost  Everything. 
The  King  of  the  Belgians  :     "  Not  My  Soul." 

(Reproduced  by  permission  of  the  proprietors  of  Punch.) 


LEST  WE   FORGET 


WORLD   WAR  STORIES 


BY 


JOHN   GILBERT   THOMPSON 

PRINCIPAL  OF  THE  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 
FITCHBURG,  MASS. 


INEZ   BIGWOOD 

INSTRUCTOR  IN  CHILDREN  S   LITERATURE 

STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

FITCHBURG,   MASS. 


SILVER,   BURDETT   AND    COMPANY 

BOSTON         NEW  YORK        CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
SILVER,    BURDETT  AND  COMPANY 


3 


PREFACE 

Books  and  articles  in  astounding  numbers  have  been 
published  in  the  past  four  years  to  explain  the  World 
War  and  to  inform  the  public  as  to  its  progress.     Socie- 
ties and  agencies  of  the  government  have  urged  that 
every   available   means   be   employed   to   inform   the 
American  people  of  the  reasons  for  the  war  and  the 
issues  at  stake ;   and  much  has  been  done  for  adults. 
Little  or  no  thought  seems  to  have  been  given  to 
^    youthful  readers  who  are  beginning  to  think  for  them- 
^    selves,   and  whose  first  thinking  should  be  properly 
:j  guided,  for  they  are  at  an  age  when  tales  of  heroism 
rj  and  daring  make  a  strong  appeal.     In  many  homes 
^  the  children  are  the  only  readers,  and  in  nearly  all, 
-'  their  thinking  and   reading    exercise    a    powerful    in- 
fluence. 

This  volume  of  stories  of  the  World  War  is  prepared 
to  meet  this  important  need,  and  to  set  before  the 
pupils  the  war's  unparalleled  deeds  of  heroism,  with 
the  aims  and  ideals  which  have  inspired  them,  and 
which  have  led  American  youth  to  look  upon  the  sac- 
rifice of  life  as  none  too  high  a  price  to  pay  for  the 
liberation  of  mankind. 

V 

345486 


vi  PREFACl^ 

It  may  be  used  as  a  reading  book  or  as  an  historical 
readiM-  for  tlie  uppvv  .grammar  grades.  While  great 
care  has  been  employed  to  secure  accurac}^  of  fact 
and  to  select  material  of  permanent  value,  the  stories 
arc  written  in  a  manner  that  will  appeal  to  children. 

Tlic  thanks  of  the  authors  and  publishers  are  hereby 
expressed  to  those  wiio  have  kindly  granted  permission 
to  use  copyrighted  material. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1.  The  Shot  Heard  Round  the  World 1 

2.  A  King  of  Heroes 20 

3.  The  Defense  op  Liege 31 

4.  The  Destruction  of  Louvain 38 

5.  Cardinal  Mercier 43 

6.  And  the  Cock  Crew       .         .         .      Amelia  Josephine  Burr  57 

7.  A  Belgian  Lawi'er's  Appeal 59 

8.  Edith  Cavell 61 

9.  Son            Robert  W.  Service  66 

10.  The  Case  of  Serbia       ....    David  Lloyd  George  68 

11.  The  Murder  of  Captain  Fryatt 71 

12.  Rupert  Brooke 76 

13.  "Let  Us  Save  the  Kiddies" 81 

14.  The  Charge  of  the  Black  Watch  and  the  Scots  Greys  91 

15.  The  Battles  op  the  Marne 94 

16.  The  Queen's  Flower              105 

17.  At  School  Near  the  Lines 108 

18.  A  Place  in  the  Sun 112 

19.  Marshal  Joffre 119 

20.  The  Hun  Target  —  The  Red  Cross 129 

21.  "They  Shall  Not  Pass" 140 

22.  Verdun Harold  Begbie  146 

23.  The  Beast  in  Man         .........  147 

24.  When  Germany  Lost  the  War     .        .           New  York  Sun  155 

25.  Carry  on  ! Robert  W.  Service  162 

26.  War  Dogs 165 


viii 

CONTENTS 

PAOH 

27. 

'i'liK  Heimiax  Prisce 



175 

2S. 

n.\HING    THE    r\DAR.\BLE 

182 

29. 

Killing  the  Son 

189 

30. 

The  IUsslvn-  Revolution 

195 

31. 

A  B.\LL.\D  OF  French  Rivers 

.     Christopher  Morley 

207 

32. 

Bacilli  ant)  Bullets 

209 

33. 

The  Torch  of  \'alor 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker 

216 

34. 

Marshal  Foch         .... 

223 

35. 

The  Mexican  Plot 

228 

36. 

Why  We  Fight  Geiulynt 

Franklin  K.  Lane 

242 

37. 

Gen-er.\l  Pershing 

245 

3S. 

The  Melting  Pot  .... 

252 

39. 

BiRDMEX 

256 

40. 

Alan  Seeger    

271 

41. 

Can  War  Ever  be  Right?     . 

. 

275 

42. 

What  One  American  Did 

293 

43. 

R.\EMAEKERS 

. 

301 

44. 

The  God  in  Man    .... 

. 

309 

45. 

In  Flanders  Fields        .        Lieutenant- 

Colonel  John  McCrae 

321 

4r). 

The  World  War 

322 

47. 

Nations  and  the  Moral  Law 

John  Bright 

343 

LEST  WE  FORGET 

THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD 

ON  April  19,  1775,  was  fired  ''the  shot  heard 
round  the  world."  It  was  the  shot  fired  for 
freedom  and  democracy  by  the  Americans  at  Lexing- 
ton and  Concord.  In  1836,  upon  the  completion  of 
the  battle  monument  at  Concord,  the  gallant  deeds 
of  those  early  patriots  were  commemorated  by  Emer- 
son in  verse. 

By  the  rude  bridge  that  arched  the  flood, 
Their  flag  to  April's  breeze  unfurled, 
Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

This  is  not  the  only  shot  for  freedom  fired  by 
America  and  Americans.  As  President  Wilson  has 
said,  ''The  might  of  America  is  the  might  of  a  sincere 
love  for  the  freedom  of  mankind."  The  shots  of  the 
Civil  War  were  fired  for  united  democracy  and  uni- 
versal freedom. 

The  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  United  States  fired 
upon   the   Spaniards   in   the   Spanish-American   War, 

1 


2  LEST    WK    FORGET 

that  nil  oppressed  people  might  be  released  and  given 
an  opiiort unity  to  live  and  work  and  grow  in  liberty. 

That  the  Fili{)in()s,  like  the  Cubans,  might  learn 
to  understand  freedom,  to  safeguard  it,  and  to  use 
it  wisi^ly.  has  l)een  the  whole  purpose  of  the  United 
States  in  aiding  them. 

On  April  6,  1917,  the  shot  was  heard  again.  The 
whole  world  had  been  listening  anxiously  for  it,  and 
was  not  disappointed. 

Those  against  whom  the  first  American  shot  for 
freedom  was  fired  in  1775  have  no\v  become  the  strong- 
est defenders  of  liberty  and  democracy.  Their  country 
is  one  of  the  three  greatest  democracies  of  the  world. 
Shoulder  to  shoulder,  the  Americans  and  British  fight 
for  the  freedom  of  mankind  everj^where.  They  fight 
to  defend  the  truth  and  to  make  this  truth  serve  down- 
trodden peoples  as  well  as  the  mighty. 

Indeed,  President  Wilson  has  wisely  said,  ''The 
only  thing  that  ever  set  any  man  free,  the  only  thing 
that  ever  set  any  nation  free,  is  the  truth.  A  man 
that  is  afraid  of  the  truth  is  afraid  of  life.  A  man 
who  does  not  love  the  truth  is  in  the  way  of  failure." 

German}"  has  no  love  for  the  truth.  The  history 
of  the  empire  is  strewn  with  broken  promises  and 
acts  of  deceitfulness.  America  stands  for  something 
different.  It  stands  for  those  ideals  which  President 
Wilson  saw  when  he  looked  at  the  flag. 

"And  as  I  look  at  that  flag,"  he  said,  ''I  seem  to 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD     3 

see  many  characters  upon  it  which  are  not  visible  to 
the  physical  eye.  There  seem  to  move  ghostly  visions 
of  devoted  men  who,  looking  at  that  flag,  thought  only 
of  liberty,  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  of  the  mission 
of  America  to  show  the  way  to  the  world  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  rights  of  mankind ;  and  every  grave  of 
every  brave  man  of  the  country  would  seem  to  have 
upon  it  the  colors  of  the  flag ;  if  he  was  a  true  Amer- 
ican, would  seem  to  have  on  it  that  stain  of  red  which 
means  the  true  pulse  of  blood,  and  that  beauty  of  pure 
white  which  means  the  peace  of  the  soul.  And  then 
there  seems  to  rise  over  the  graves  of  those  men  and 
to  hallow  their  memory,  that  blue  space  of  the  sky 
in  which  stars  swim,  these  stars  which  exemplify  for 
us  that  glorious  galaxy  of  the  States  of  the  Union, 
bodies  of  free  men  banded  together  to  vindicate  the 
rights  of  mankind." 

At  Mount  Vernon,  he  said,  in  speaking  of  the  work 
of  George  Washington,  ''A  great  promise  that  was 
meant  for  all  mankind  was  here  given  plan  and  reality." 
So  for  the  sake  of  many  peoples  of  Europe  who  were 
wronged,  America  has  carried  out  that  promise.  When 
honorable  Americans  promise,  they  would  rather  give 
up  life  than  fail  to  keep  their  word.  But  when  the 
Germans  promise  it  means  only  ''a  slip  of  the  tongue," 
for  this  is  also  the  meaning  of  the  German  word  which 
is  translated  '^ promise." 

That  the  United  States  has  to  fulfill  this  special 


4  Li:s'r    WF.    FORCIET 

mission  of  drf(MKlini2;  the  truth  is  very  clear.  The 
groat  American  leader  said  a^ain  in  behalf  of  his 
people : 

'*I  suppose  that  from  the  first  America  has  had 
one  pailicular  mission  in  the  world.  Other  nations 
have  grown  rich,  other  nations  have  been  as  powerful 
as  we  are  in  material  resources ;  other  nations  have 
built  up  empires  and  exercised  dominion.  We  are 
not  alone  in  anj^  of  these  things,  but  we  are  peculiar 
in  this,  that  from  the  first  we  have  dedicated  our 
force  to  the  service  of  justice  and  righteousness  and 
peace. 

"The  princes  among  us  are  those  who  forget  them- 
selves and  serve  mankind.  America  was  born  into 
the  world  to  do  mankind's  service,  and  no  man  is 
an  American  in  whom  the  desire  to  do  mankind's 
service  is  not  greater  than  the  desire  to  serve  himself. 

"Our  hfe  is  but  a  little  plan.  One  generation 
follows  another  very  quickly.  If  a  man  with  red 
blood  in  him  had  his  choice,  knowing  that  he  must 
die,  he  would  rather  die  to  vindicate  some  right, 
unselfish  to  himself,  than  die  in  his  bed.  We  are  all 
touched  with  the  love  of  the  glory  which  is  real  glory, 
and  the  only  glory  comes  from  utter  self-forgetfulness 
and  self-sacrifice.  We  never  erect  a  statue  to  a  man 
who  has  merel}^  succeeded.  We  erect  statues  to  men 
who  have  forgotten  themselves  and  been  glorified  by 
the   memorv   of   others.     This  is   the   standard   that 


THE  SHOT  HEARD   ROUND  THE  WORLD  5 

America  holds  up  to  mankind  in  all  sincerity  and  in  all 
earnestness. 

''We  have  gone  down  to  Mexico  to  serve  mankind, 
if  we  can  find  out  the  way.  We  do  not  want  to  fight 
the  Mexicans;  we  want  to  serve  the  Mexicans  if  we 
can,  because  we  know  how  we  would  like  to  be  free 
and  how  we  would  like  to  be  served,  if  there  were 
friends  standing  by  ready  to  serve  us.  A  war  of  ag- 
gression is  not  a  war  in  which  it  is  a  proud  thing  to 
die,  but  a  war  of  service  is  a  thing  in  which  it  is  a 
proud  thing  to  die." 

The  liberty-loving  nations  now  fighting  in  the 
World  War  desire  that  truth  and  freedom  shall  be 
secured  even  to  the  Germans  along  with  all  other 
peoples.  If  the  Germans  had  possessed  these  price- 
less virtues,  probably  no  World  War  would  have  been 
necessary.  But  the  spirit  of  militarism  has  bound 
down  and  deceived  the  German  people. 

President  Wilson,  at  West  Point,  said  :  ''Militarism 
does  not  consist  in  the  existence  of  any  army,  not 
even  in  the  existence  of  a  very  great  army.  Militarism 
is  a  spirit.  It  is  a  point  of  view.  It  is  a  system.  It 
is  a  purpose.  The  purpose  of  militarism  is  to  use 
armies  for  aggression.  The  spirit  of  militarism  is 
the  opposite  of  the  civilian  spirit,  the  citizen  spirit. 
In  a  country  where  militarism  prevails,  the  military 
man  looks  down  upon  the  civilian,  regards  him  as 
inferior,  thinks  of  him  as  intended  for  his,  the  military 


r  Li:ST    Wi:    FOIUUT 

man's  sujiport  and  use,  and  just  as  long;  as  America 
i>  Amrrica  that  s])irit  and  point  of  view  is  imi)ossihle 
witli  us.  'riuMi'  is  as  yet  in  this  country,  so  far  as  1 
can  discover,  no  taint  of  the  spirit  of  militarism." 

'r\\r  pi>o|)K>  of  (Jerniany  have  <;iven  up  their  sons, 
l>aid  enormous  taxes  which  kei)t  them  jioor  but  made 
landowners  rich,  all  for  the  sake  of  the  military  whims 
of  their  su])eriors. 

Any  American  would  sa}',  like  President  Wilson, 
"I  would  rather  belong  to  a  poor  nation  that  was  free 
than  to  a  rich  nation  that  had  ceased  to  be  in  love 
with  liberty.  But  we  shall  not  be  poor  if  we  love 
liberty,  because  the  nation  that  loves  liberty  truly 
sets  ever}'  man  free  to  do  his  best  and  be  his  best, 
and  that  means  the  release  of  all  the  splendid  energies 
of  a  great  people  who  think  for  themselves." 

Thus,  it  is  clear  that  America  fights  to  serve.  The 
Germans  fight  to  get,  even  as  their  word  ''kriegen," 
used  by  them  to  mean  ''make  war,"  really  means 
"to  get."  For  them,  making  war  is  never  with  the 
idea  of  service,  but  with  the  idea  of  getting.  They 
desire  many  things  for  Germany,  and  to  get  them, 
they  have  used  the  most  brutal  force.  Not  for  a 
moment  would  they  stop  to  listen  to  the  opinions 
of  mankind  throughout  the  world. 

President  Wilson  spoke  with  authority,  when  he 
said:  "I  have  not  read  history  without  observing 
that  the  greatest  forces  in   the  world  and  the  only 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    7 

permanent  forces  are  the  moral  forces.  We  have  the 
evidence  of  a  very  competent  witness,  namely,  the 
first  Napoleon,  who  said  that  as  he  looked  back  in 
the  last  days  of  his  life  upon  so  much  as  he  knew  of 
human  history,  he  had  to  record  the  judgment  that 
force  had  never  accomplished  anything  that  was 
permanent.  Force  will  not  accomplish  anything  that 
is  permanent,  I  venture  to  say,  in  the  great  struggle 
which  is  now  going  on  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea. 
The  permanent  things  will  be  accomplished  afterward, 
when  the  opinion  of  mankind  is  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  issues,  and  the  only  thing  that  will  hold  the  world 
steady  is  this  same  silent,  insistent,  all-powerful 
opinion  of  mankind.  Force  can  sometimes  hold  things 
steady  until  opinion  has  time  to  form,  but  no  force 
that  was  ever  exerted  except  in  response  to  that  opinion 
was  ever  a  conquering  and  predominant  force." 

By  the  opinions  of  mankind,  he  meant  ideals,  of 
which  he  had  already  said:  ''The  pushing  things  in 
this  world  are  ideals,  not  ideas.  One  ideal  is  worth 
twenty  ideas." 

Thus,  in  behalf  of  the  great  American  nation,  he 
calls  upon  the  young  Americans  of  to-day  to  follow 
the  true  spirit  of  their  country.  To  them  all  he  says, 
''You  are  just  as  big  as  the  things  you  do,  just  as 
small  as  the  things  you  leave  undone.  The  size  of 
your  life  is  the  scale  of  your  thinking." 

When  this  great  American  president  who  believed 


s  i.i:sr  w  I".  FoiiciT 

that  moral  t\)rc('  was  always  «;reater  than  physical 
forco  and  who  tau.uht  that  America's  mission  in  the 
world  was  to  s(mv(>  all  mankintl  and  finally  to  make 
them  free;  when  he  perceived  after  every  other  means 
had  failed,  that  only  |)hysi('al  forc(*  could  affect  Ger- 
many and  that  "tlu*  sore  spot"  in  the  world  must  be 
heaKnl.  as  a  cancer  is,  with  the  surgeon's  knife;  then 
he  ai)i)eared  in  person,  on  April  2,  1917,  before  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  and  read  his  great  war 
message.  Following  his  advice,  Congress  declared  on 
April  ()  that  a  state  of  war  existed  with  Germany. 
The  message  was  in  substance  as  follow^s : 

GciitlciiuMi  of  the  Congress: 

I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session  because 
there  arc  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of  policj'  to  be  made,  and 
made  immediately. 

On  the  third  of  Feljruary  last  I  laid  before  you  the  extraordinary 
announcement  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  that  on  and 
after  the  first  day  of  February  it  was  its  purpose  to  put  aside  all 
restraints  of  law  or  of  hiunanity  and  use  its  submarines  to  sink 
every  vessel  tluit  sought  to  approach  either  the  ports  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  or  the  westei-n  coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the 
ports  controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside.  Vessels 
of  eveiy  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  character,  their  cargo, 
their  destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly  sent  to  the 
bottom  without  warning  and  without  thought  of  help  or  mercy 
for  those  on  board,  the  vessels  of  friendly  neutrals  along  with 
those  of  belligerents. 


THE  SHOT   HEARD   ROUND   THE  WORLD  9 

Even  hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  rehef  to  the  stricken 
people  of  Belgium,  though  the  latter  were  provided  with  safe- 
conduct  by  the  German  Government  itself  and  were  distinguished 
by  unmistakable  marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the  same 
reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of  principle.  .  .  . 

I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property,  immense  and 
serious  as  that  is,  but  only  of  the  wanton  and  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  the  lives  of  non-combatants,  men,  women,  and  children, 
engaged  in  pursuits  which  have  always,  even  in  the  darkest 
periods  of  modern  history,  been  deemed  innocent  and  lawful. 
Property  can  be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peaceful  and  innocent 
people  cannot  be. 

The  present  German  submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is 
a  warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a  war  against  all  nations. 
American  ships  have  been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways 
which  it  has  stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and 
people  of  other  neutral  and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  in 
the  waters  in  the  same  way.  The  challenge  is  to  all  mankind. 
Each  nation  must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it. 

The  choice  we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made  after  very 
careful  thought.  We  must  put  excited  feeling  away.  Our 
motives  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  victorious  show  of  the  physical 
might  of  the  nation,  but  only  the  vindication  of  right,  of  human 
rights,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single  champion.  .  .  . 

The  German  Government  denies  the  right  of  neutrals  td  use 
arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the  sea  which  it  has  proscribed, 
even  in  the  defense  of  their  rights.  The  armed  guards  which 
we  have  placed  on  our  merchant  ships  will  be  treated  as  beyond 
the  pale  of  law  and  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as  pirates  would  be. 

There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are  incapable  of  mak- 
ing ;  we  will  not  choose  the  path  of  submission  and  suffer  the 
most  sacred  rights  of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored 


U)  Ll.ST   WE   FOHCLT 

or  violatoil.  The  \vron<;s  against  whicli  we  now  array  ourselves 
are  not  common  wrongs;  they  cut  to  the  very  roots  of  Imnuin 
hfe. 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  step  I  am  taking  and  of 
the  grave  responsibilities  which  it  involves,  but  in  unhesitating 
obedience  to  what  I  deem  my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that 
the  Congress  declare  the  recent  course  of  the  Imperial  German 
(lovernment  to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war  against  the  Gov- 
ernment anil  people  of  the  United  States;  that  it  formally  accept 
the  status  of  belligerent  which  has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it  and 
that  it  take  immediate  steps  not  only  to  put  the  country  in  a 
more  thorough  state  of  defense,  but  also  to  exert  all  its  power 
and  employ  all  its  resources  to  bring  the  Government  of  the 
German  Empire  to  terms  and  end  the  Mar. 

While  we  do  these  things  —  these  deeply  momentous  things 
—  let  us  be  very  clear,  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the  world  what 
our  motives  and  our  objects  are.  Our  object  is  to  vindicate  the 
principles  of  peace  and  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world  against 
selfish  and  autocratic  power  and  to  set  up  among  the  really  free 
and  self-governed  peoples  of  the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose 
and  action  as  will  henceforth  insure  the  observance  of  those 
principles. 

Xeutrahty  is  no  longer  desirable  where  the  peace  of  the  world 
is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples ;  and  the  menace  to 
that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of  autocratic  govern- 
ments backed  by  organized  force  which  is  controlled  wholly  by 
their  will,  not  by  the  will  of  their  people. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have  no 
foehng  toward  them  but  one  of  sj-mpathy  and  friendship.  It  was 
not  upon  their  impulse  that  their  Government  acted  in  entering 
this  war.     It  was  not  with  their  knowledge  or  approval. 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained  except 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    11 

by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations.  No  autocratic  Govern- 
ment could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it,  or  to  observe  its 
agreements.  It  must  be  a  league  of  honor,  a  partnership  of 
opinion.  Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals  away ;  the  plotting  of 
inner  circles,  who  could  plan  what  they  would  and  render  an 
account  to  no  one,  would  be  a  corruption  seated  at  its  very  heart. 
Only  free  peoples  can  hold  their  purpose  and  their  honor  steady 
to  a  common  end,  and  prefer  the  interests  of  mankind  to  any 
narrow  interests  of  their  own. 

Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  German  spies  were  here  even 
before  the  war  began.  They  have  played  their  part  in  serving 
to  convince  us  at  last  that  that  Government  entertains  no  real 
friendship  for  us,  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace  and  security 
at  its  convenience.  That  it  means  to  stir  up  enemies  against  us 
at  oiir  very  doors,  the  note  to  the  German  Minister  at  Mexico 
City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  because  we  know  that  in  such 
a  Government,  following  such  methods,  we  can  never  have  a 
friend ;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its  organized  power,  always 
lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we  know  not  what  purpose,  there 
can  be  no  assured  security  of  the  democratic  governments  of  the 
world. 

We  are  now  about  to  accept  gage  of  battle  with  this  natural 
foe  of  liberty,  and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of 
the  nation  to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power. 
We  are  glad,  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pre- 
tense about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  peace  of  the  world  and 
for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  people  included ; 
for  the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small  and  the  privilege  of  men 
everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life  and  of  obedience.  The 
world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  Its  peace  must  be 
planted  upon  the  tested  foundations  of  political  Hberty. 


12  LEST   Wi:    I'OHCEr 

Wv  \\:\xv  no  selfish  t'nds  to  serve.  \\ C  desire  no  roiKiuest, 
:ii)  tltiiniiiioii.  We  seek  no  iiulemnilies  for  ourselves,  no  material 
eoinpensation  for  the  saerifices  we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  l)ut 
one  of  the  i-hamjiions  of  the  ri<ihts  of  inniikind.  We  shall  be 
satisfieil  when  those  rifjhts  have  been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith 
and  the  freedom  of  tiie  nations  can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor  and  without  s(^lfish  ob- 
ject, seeking  nothing  for  ourselves  but  what  we  shall  wish  to 
share  with  all  free  peoj^le.  we  shall,  I  feel  confident,  conduct  our 
operations  as  Ijelligerents  without  passion  and  ourselves  o])serve 
the  principles  of  right  and  of  fair  j)lay  we  profess  to  be  fighting  for. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves  as  bellig- 
erents in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness  because  we  act  with- 
out animus,  not  in  enmity  toward  a  people  or  with  the  desire  to 
bring  any  injury  or  disadvantage  upon  them,  but  only  in  armed 
opposition  to  an  irresponsible  Government  which  has  thrown  aside 
all  considerations  of  humanit}-  and  of  right,  and  is  running  amuck. 

We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of  the  German 
people,  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the  early  reestablish- 
ment  of  intimate  relations  of  mutual  advantage  between  us, 
however  hard  it  may  be  for  them,  for  the  time  being,  to  believe 
that  this  is  spoken  from  our  hearts. 

W^e  have  borne  with  their  present  Government  through  all 
these  bitter  months  ])ecause  of  that  friendship,  exercising  a  patience 
and  forbearance  which  would  otherwise  have  been  impossible. 
We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an  opportunity  to  prove  that  friend- 
ship in  our  daily  attitude  and  actions  toward  the  millions  of  men 
and  women  of  German  birth  and  native  sj'mpathy  who  live  among 
us  and  share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be  proud  to  prove  it  toward 
all  who  are  in  fact  loyal  to  their  neighbors  and  to  the  Government 
in  the  hour  of  test. 

They  are,  most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as  if 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    13 

they  had  never  known  any  other  feahy  or  allegiance.  They  will 
be  prompt  to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and  restraining  the  few 
who  may  be  of  a  different  mind  and  purpose. 

If  there  should  be  disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt  with  with  a  firm 
hand  of  stern  repression ;  but  if  it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift 
it  only  here  and  there  and  without  countenance  except  from  a 
lawless  and  malignant  few. 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
gress, which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing  you.  There 
are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice  ahead  of 
us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful  people  into 
war  —  into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civiliza- 
tion itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance. 

But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we  shall  fight 
for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried  nearest  our  heai-ts 
—  for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those  who  sul)mit  to  authority 
to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  government,  for  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  small  nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a 
concert  of  free  people  as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations 
and  make  the  workl  itself  at  last  free. 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  fortunes, 
everything  that  we  are  and  evei'ything  that  we  have,  with  the 
pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come  when  America 
is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles 
that  gave  her  birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has 
treasured.     God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other. 

On  July  4,  1918,  the  United  States  had  been  at  war 
for  more  than  a  year,  and  it  seemed  to  the  milhons  of 
people  who  were  anxiously  wai  ing  for  tlie  peaceful 
giant  to  awake  that  very  little  had  been  accomplished. 
They  were   fearful   that   the   Germans   in   their  next 


14  LEST  WE  FORGET 

groat  ofTonsiv(\  for  which  \\\vy  had  been  preparing 
for  over  two  months,  might  cai)ture  Paris,  or  at  least 
get  near  enough  to  it  to  destroy  the  city  with  their 
long  range  artillery.  The  offensives,  already  launched 
by  the  Germans,  had  been  frightfull}'  effective,  and  the 
Allies  felt  that  American  soldiers  in  large  numbers 
were  necessary  to  save  them  from  possible  disaster. 
They  were  looking  for  a  great  ''push"  by  the  enemy 
and  one  that  German  leaders  had  promised  the  people 
at  home  would  bring  victory  and  settle  the  war  in 
their  favor.  This  offensive,  as  we  know,  was  launched 
on  July  1.3  and  instead  of  succeeding  was  changed  by 
Marshal  Foch's  counter-stroke  into  a  serious  defeat 
for  the  Germans. 

But  this  outcome  could  not  of  course  be  predicted 
in  America  on  July  4,  and  hearts  were  heavy  with 
fear  that  the  United  States  might  after  all  be  too 
slow  and  too  late.  It  was  not  then  generally  known 
that  during  the  months  of  May  and  June,  over  a  half 
million  American  soldiers  had  been  landed  in  France. 

On  July  4,  177G,  the  American  colonies  by  a  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  determined  to  fight  for  liberty 
and  democrac}^ ;  on  April  6,  1917,  the  American 
Congress  declared  that  the  United  States  would  help 
defeat  the  selfish  aims  of  Germany.  In  the  early 
fight  of  the  America  i  colonies  for  independence,  the 
first  battles  were  fought  in  April  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  signed  in  July  of  the  next  year; 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    15 

in  the  fight  for  the  Uberty  of  all  peoples,  the  German 
included,  the  Americans  entered  the  war  in  April, 
and  the  President  on  July  4  of  the  following  year, 
standing  at  the  tomb  of  Washington  at  Mount 
Vernon,  read  a  Declaration  of  Independence,  not  for 
America  alone,  but  for  the  entire  world. 

In  1776,  the  declaration  was  supported  by  a  small 
army  of  a  few  small  colonies,  in  1918  the  declaration 
was  supported  by  the  full  strength  of  the  greatest 
and  wealthiest  nation  on  the  globe. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day  with  a  cloudless  sky  and  a 
cooling  breeze.  President  Wilson  and  his'  party,  in- 
cluding members  of  the  cabinet ;  the  British  ambassador, 
the  Earl  of  Reading ;  the  French  ambassador,  Jules  J. 
Jusserand  ;  and  other  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps, 
had  come  down  the  Potomac  from  Washington  on  the 
President's  steam  yacht,  the  Mayflower. 

When  they  had  gathered  around  the  tomb  of  Wash- 
ington near  his  old  home,  Mount  Vernon,  on  the  banks 
of  the  beautiful  Potomac  River,  representatives  of 
thirty-three  nations  placed  wreaths  of  palms  on  the 
tomb  to  show  their  fealty  to  the  principles  for  which 
the  "Father  of  His  Country"  fought;  then  all  stood 
with  bared  heads  while  John  McCormack  sang  '^The 
Star-Spangled  Banner."  As  the  beautiful  notes  rose 
and  swelled  and  echoed  over  the  hallowed  ground, 
into  the  hearts  of  all  present  came  the  conviction 
that  the  starry  flag  would  soon  bring  to  all  the  peoples 


16  LEST    \\K    FORCKT 

of  ihr  world   the  pcMcc  and  security  tliat  surrounded 
tliat  historic  ';i-oui)  at  Mount  Vernon. 

Tlien  the  President  with  tlie  marines  about  him, 
and  lieyond  tliem  thousands  of  American  citizens, 
l)e,nan  to  read  tlie  Declaration  of  tlie  Independence 
of  th(^  Worhl.  It  is  so  simple  in  language  that  even 
children  of  twelve  years  of  age  may  understand  nearly 
all  of  it,  and  it  is  so  deep  and  noble  in  thought  that 
even  the  greatest  scholars  and  statesmen  will  find  it 
worthy  of  close  stud}-.  It  will  stand  forever  with 
Washington's  Farew^ell  Address  and  Lincoln's  Gettys- 
burg Speech  as  a  great  American  document.  It  is  as 
follows,  except  that  the  four  ends  for  which  the  w^orld 
is  fighting  are  restated  in  briefer  form  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  antl  my  Fellow-Citizens : 

I  am  happy  to  draw  apart  with  you  to  this  ciuiet  place  of  old 
counsel  in  order  to  speak  a  little  of  the  meaning  of  this  day  of 
our  nation's  independence.  The  place  seems  veiy  still  and  re- 
mote. It  is  as  serene  and  untouched  by  hurry  of  the  world  as  it 
was  in  those  great  days  long  ago,  when  General  Washington  was 
here  and  held  leisurely  conference  with  the  men  who  wore  to  be 
associated  with  him  in  the  creation  of  a  nation. 

From  these  gentle  slopes,  they  looked  out  upon  the  world  and 
saw  it  whole,  saw  it  with  the  light  of  the  future  upon  it,  saw  it 
with  modern  eyes  that  turned  away  from  a  past  which  men  of 
liberated  spirits  could  no  longer  endure.  It  is  foi-  that  reason  that 
we  cannot  feel,  even  here,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  this  sacred 
tomb,  that  this  is  a  place  of  death.     It  was  a  place  of  achievement. 

A  great  promis(>  that  was  meant  for  all  mankind  was  here 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    17 

given  plan  and  realitj-.  The  associations  by  which  we  are  here 
surrounded  are  the  inspiriting  associations  of  that  noble  death 
which  is  only  a  glorious  consummation.  From  this  green  hillside 
we  also  ought  to  be  able  to  see  with  comprehending  eyes  the  world 
that  lies  around  us  and  conceive  anew  the  purpose  that  must  set 
men  free. 

It  is  significant  —  significant  of  their  own  character  and  pur- 
pose and  of  the  influences  they  were  setting  afoot  —  that  Wash- 
ington and  his  associates,  hke  the  barons  at  Runnymede,  spoke 
and  acted,  not  for  a  class  but  for  a  people.  It  has  been  left  for 
us  to  see  to  it  that  it  shall  be  understood  that  they  spoke  and 
acted,  not  for  a  single  people  only,  but  for  all  mankind.  They 
were  thinking  not  of  themselves  and  of  the  material  interests 
which  centered  in  the  little  groups  of  landholders  and  merchants 
and  men  of  affairs  with  whom  they  were  accustomed  to  act,  in 
Virginia  and  the  colonies  to  the  north  and  south  of  here,  but  of  a 
people  which  wished  to  be  done  with  classes  and  special  interests 
and  the  authority  of  men  whom  they  had  not  themselves  chosen 
to  rule  over  them. 

They  entertained  no  private  purpose,  desired  no  peculiar 
privilege.  They  were  consciously  planning  that  men  of  every 
class  should  be  free  and  America  a  place  to  which  men  out  of 
every  nation  might  resort  who  wished  to  share  with  them  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  freemen.  And  we  take  our  cue  from  them 
—  do  we  not?     We  intend  what  they  intended. 

We  here  in  America  believe  our  participation  in  this  present 
war  to  be  only  the  fruitage  of  what  they  planted.  Our  case 
differs  from  theirs  only  in  this,  that  it  is  our  inestimable  privilege 
to  concert  with  men  out  of  every  nation  what  shall  make  not 
only  the  liberties  of  America  secure,  but  the  liberties  of  every 
other  people  as  well.  We  are  happy  in  the  thought  that  we  are 
permitted  to  do  what  they  would  have  done  had  they  been  in 


IS  LEST   WE   FORGET 

our  place.  There  must  now  be  settled  once  for  all  what  was 
settled  for  America  in  the  great  age  upon  whose  inspiration  we 
draw  to-day. 

This  is  surely  a  fitting  place  from  which  cahnh'  to  look  out 
upon  our  task  that  we  may  fortify  our  spirits  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. And  this  is  the  appropriate  place  from  which  to  avow, 
alike  to  the  friends  who  look  on  and  to  the  friends  with  whom 
we  have  the  happiness  to  be  associated  in  action,  the  faith  and 
purpose  with  which  we  act. 

This,  then,  is  our  conception  of  the  great  struggle  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  The  plot  is  written  plain  upon  every  scene  and 
eveiy  act  of  the  supreme  tragedy.  On  the  one  hand  stand  the 
peoples  of  the  world  —  not  only  the  peoples  actually  engaged, 
but  many  others  also  who  suffer  under  mastery  but  cannot 
act ;  peoples  of  many  races  and  every  part  of  the  world  —  the 
peoples  of  stricken  Russia  still,  among  the  rest,  though  they  are 
for  the  moment  unorganized  and  helpless.  Opposed  to  them, 
masters  of  many  armies,  stand  an  isolated,  friendless  group  of 
governments  who  speak  no  common  purpose,  but  only  selfish 
ambitions  of  their  own  by  which  none  can  profit  but  themselves, 
and  whose  peoples  are  fuel  in  their  hands ;  governments  which 
fear  their  people  and  yet  are  for  the  time  their  sovereign  lords, 
maldng  everj^  choice  for  them  and  disposing  of  their  lives  and 
fortunes  as  they  will,  as  well  as  of  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  every 
people  who  fall  under  their  power  —  governments  clothed  with 
the  strange  trappings  and  the  primitive  authority  of  an  age  that 
is  altogether  alien  and  hostile  to  our  own.  The  past  and  the 
present  are  in  deadly  grapple  and  the  peoples  of  the  world  are 
being  done  to  death  between  them. 

There  can  be  but  one  issue.  The  settlement  must  be  final. 
There  can  be  no  compromise.  No  half-way  decision  would  be 
tolerable.    No  half-way  decision  is  conceivable.    These  are  the 


THE  SHOT  HEARD  ROUND  THE  WORLD    19 

ends  for  which  the  associated  peoples  of  the  world  are  fighting 
and  which  must  be  conceded  them  before  there  can  be  peace : 

1.  Every  power  anywhere  that  can  secretly  and  of  its  own  single 
choice  bring  war  upon  the  world  must  be  bound  or  destroyed. 

2.  All  questions  must  be  settled  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  people  concerned. 

3.  The  same  respect  for  honor  and  for  law  that  leads  honorable 
men  to  hold  their  promises  as  sacred  and  to  keep  them  at  any 
cost  must  direct  the  nations  in  dealing  with  one  another. 

4.  A  league  of  nations  must  be  formed  strong  enough  to  in- 
sure the  peace  of  the  world. 

These  great  objects  can  be  put  into  a  single  sentence.  What 
we  seek  is  the  reign  of  law,  based  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed 
and  sustained  by  the  organized  opinion  of  mankind. 

These  great  ends  cannot  be  achieved  by  debating  and  seeking 
to  reconcile  and  accommodate  what  statesmen  may  wish,  with 
their  projects  for  balances  of  power  and  national  opportunity. 
They  can  be  realized  only  by  the  determination  of  what  the 
thinking  peoples  of  the  world  desire,  with  their  longing  hope  for 
justice  and  for  social  freedom  and  opportunity. 

I  cannot  but  fancy  that  the  air  of  this  place  carries  the  accents 
of  such  principles  with  a  peculiar  kindness.  Here  were  started 
forces  which  the  great  nation  against  which  they  were  primarily 
directed  at  first  regarded  as  a  revolt  against  its  rightful  authority, 
but  which  it  has  long  since  seen  to  have  been  a  step  in  the  libera- 
tion of  its  own  peoples  as  well  as  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States ;  and  I  stand  here  now  to  speak  —  speak  proudly  and 
with  confident  hope  —  of  the  spread  of  this  revolt,  this  libera- 
tion, to  the  great  stage  of  the  world  itself !  The  blinded  rulers 
of  Prussia  have  aroused  forces  they  know  little  of  —  forces  which, 
once  aroused,  can  never  be  crushed  to  earth  again ;  for  they  have 
at  their  heart  an  inspiration  and  a  purpose  which  are  deathless 
and  of  the  very  stuff  of  triumpli ! 


A    KIXG    OF   HEROES 

KIXO"  is  not  a  woixl  that  will  go  out  of  use 
wlion  the  world  has  been  won  for  democracy. 
We  shall  still  use  it  much  as  we  do  now,  when  we  say, 
"He  is  a  prince"  or  "He  is  a  king  among  men"  ;  for 
there  are  still  good  kings,  as  well  as  bad  ones.  Some 
countries  that  are  really  democratic  prefer  to  keep 
kings  as  reminders  of  their  past  and  as  ornaments 
of  their  present. 

England  is  really  more  democratic  than  the  United 
States  and  3'et  England  has  a  king ;  and  as  some  one 
has  said,  he  is  a  king  and  a  democrat  and  a  king  of 
democrats.  This  was  well  shown  by  his  letter  to  the 
first  American  soldiers  w^ho  marched  through  London 
in  April,  1918,  on  their  way  to  the  battle  hne  in  France. 
Each  soldier  w^as  handed  an  envelope  bearing  the  in- 
scription, "A  message  to  you  from  his  majesty.  King 
George  V."  In  the  envelope  was  the  letter  shown  on 
the  opposite  page,  from  a  democratic  king  to  the 
American  soldiers  in  the  army  of  democracy. 

Xo  autocratic  king  or  kaiser  desires  to  shake  the 
hand  of  each  of  his  soldiers  or  to  become  in  any  way 
one  of  them.     To  an  autocrat,  to  the  German  Kaiser, 

20 


DSOR    CASTILE 


»K  -^-v^  y^^"^^  \^^^^  -^^-^jeL^^   <rt^-y^c,A 


v^-^    /^/5, 


21 


2-2  LEST    WM    FORCIOT 

to  tlic  (IiTiiiMii  oflictTs.  the  (  icnii.'iii  ptivalcs  arc  only 
Things  to  l)(>  used  as  arc  swords  and  ^iins.  A  wounded 
(Icrinan  ofi'.ccM'  felt  insult(»d  because  lie  was  made  well 
a^ain  in  an  I'.n^lish  hospital  in  the  same  ward  with 
(lernian    pri\ates. 

An  inlerestinu;  sloi-y  is  lold  of  a  Red  Ci'oss  nurse, 
to  uhniii  a  l)atll\'  woundiMl  man  was  l)|-()u;i;ht  al  a  Held 
li.ts|»ii;d  duiin^  one  ol'  the  hat  lies  in  wliieli  the  l)i"ave 
lit  111'  Helj;ian  army  was  trying  to  hold  back  the  in- 
vadiniz;  (Jermans.  All  the  surf2;eons  were  busy,  and 
the  man  needed  assistance  at  once,  'i'lie  nurse  knew 
what  was  neeih'd  to  sa\'e  his  Ijl'c  imtil  he  could  receive 
surgical  treatment,  and  she  knew  how^  to  do  it;  but 
sh(»  could  not  do  it  alone.  She  must  have  h(^l|)  at 
once,  and  of  the  rij^ht  kind. 

She  was  about  to  give  up  in  despair,  when  she  saw 
a  man  walking  through  the  held  hosi)ital,  cheering 
the  sufTerers  and  asking  if  he  could  be  of  any  assistance. 
She  called  to  him,  and  when  he  came  she  said,  ''You 
can  save  this  man's  life  if  you  will  help  me  and  do 
just  what  I  tell  you,  just  when  I  tell  you  to  do  it. 
Do  you  think  you  can  take  orders  and  obey  them 
promi)tly  ?" 

"I  think  so,"  replied  the  man.  ''Let  us  save  this 
poor  soldier's  life,  if  we  can." 

The  nurse  set  to  work,  telling  the  stranger  just 
what  she  wanted  him  to  do.  She  wasted  no  words, 
but  gave  orders  as  if  she  expected  them  to  be  obeyed 


A  KING   OF   HEROES  23 

quickly  and  intelligently.  The  stranger  proved  him- 
self equal  to  the  occasion,  and  the  delicate  work  which 
saved  the  man's  life  was  soon  done. 

^' Thank  you/'  said  the  nurse,  as  she  finished.  ''I 
see  you  are  used  to  taking  orders  and  know  how  to 
obey.  I  shall  remain  with  this  soldier,  until  he  re- 
gains consciousness.  He  will  want  to  know  to  whose 
assistance  he  owes  his  life.  Kindly  give  me  your 
name." 

The  stranger  hesitated.  Then  he  said,  ''The  soldier 
really  owes  his  life  to  you,  but  I  am  glad  if  I  was  able 
to  help.  If  he  asks,  you  may  tell  him  the  people  call 
me  Albert." 

And  all  at  once  the  commanding  little  Red  Cross 
nurse  understood  that  the  tall,  quiet  man,  who,  she 
said,  showed  that  he  was  used  to  taking  orders,  was 
Albert,  King  of  the  Belgians. 

Italy  has  a  king  and  Belgium  has  a  king;  but  like 
King  George  of  England  they  are  democratic  kings, 
exercising  what  authority  is  granted  to  them  by  the 
people  in  accordance  with  a  constitution.  The  Ger- 
man Kaiser  claims  to  hold  all  authority  of  life  and 
death  over  his  people,  including  the  right  of  declaring 
defensive  war,  by  ''divine  right,"  by  God's  choice  of 
him  and  his  family  to  rule. 

When  Germany,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1914, 
resolved  to  break  the  treaty  in  which  with  other 
nations  she  had  pledged  herself  never  to  violate,  but 


•J J  LEST   WE   FOKGET 

always  to  ilcfcMid.  the  neuUality  of  Jiclgium ;  when 
she  was  ready  to  declare  to  the  world  that  a  sacred 
treaty  was  only  "a  sciaj)  of  i)aper"  to  be  torn  up  when- 
ever lier  needs  seemed  to  re([uire  it.  she  sent  on  Sun- 
day ni,^•ht,  August  2,  1914,  at  seven  o'clock,  an  ulti- 
matum to  the  Belgian  government  —  to  be  answered 
within  twelve  hours  —  in  substance  as  follow^s : 

The  German  Government  has  received  information,  of  the 
accuracy  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  it  may  he  the  in- 
tention of  France  to  send  her  forces  across  Belgium  to  attack 
Germany. 

The  German  Government  fears  that  Belgium,  no  matter  how 
good  her  intentions,  may  not  be  able  unaided  to  prevent  such  a 
French  advance ;  and  therefore  it  is  necessary  for  the  protection 
of  Germanj'  that  she  should  act  at  once. 

The  German  Government  would  be  very  sorry  to  have  Belgium 
consider  her  action  in  this  matter  as  a  hostile  act,  for  it  is  forced 
upon  Germany  by  her  enemies.  In  order  to  prevent  any  mis- 
understanding, the  German  Government  declares  : 

1.  Germany  intends  no  hostile  act  against  Belgium,  and  if 
Belgium  makes  no  resistance,  the  German  Government  pledges 
the  security  of  the  Belgian  Kingdom  and  all  its  possessions. 

2.  Geniian}'  pledges  herself  to  evacuate  all  Belgian  territory 
at  the  end  of  the  war. 

3.  Gennany  will  pay  cash  for  all  supplies  needed  by  her  troops 
which  Belgians  are  willing  to  sell  her  and  will  make  good  any 
damage  caused  by  her  forces. 

4.  If  Belgium  resists  the  advance  of  the  German  forces,  the 
German  Government  will  be  compelled  to  consider  Belgium  as 
an  enemy  and  will  act  accordingly.     If  not,  the  friendly  relations 


A  KING   OF   HEROES  25 

which  have  long  united  the  two  nations  will  become  stronger  and 
more  lasting. 

In  twelve  hours  Belgium  must  make  a  decision 
that  would  change  her  entire  future  history  and,  as 
later  events  proved,  the  history  of  Europe  and  of 
the  world.  She  made  it;  and  by  that  decision  she 
sacrificed  herself  and  brought  death  and  destruction 
upon  her  people  and  her  possessions,  but  she  saved 
her  honor  and  her  soul.  Germany  had  promised 
her  everything,  if  she  would  only  let  the  German 
armies  march  unhindered  through  Belgium  into  France. 
No  Belgian  should  be  harmed  or  disturbed,  and  any- 
thing needed  by  the  German  army  would  be  paid  for. 
After  the  Germans  had  won  the  war,  as  they  doubt- 
less would  have  done  if  Belgium  had  not  blocked  their 
way,  Belgium  would  have  become  a  thriving,  wealthy 
kingdom,  under  German  protection.  Antwerp  would 
have  been  perhaps  the  greatest  port  in  the  world, 
and  Brussels,  next  to  Berlin,  the  world's  most  mag- 
nificent capital.  But  the  Belgians  did  not  hesitate 
nor  did  their  heroic  king. 

The  Belgian  Government  replied  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, at  four  o'clock,  in  substance  as  follows : 

The  Note  from  the  German  Government  has  caused  the  most 
painful  surprise  to  the  Belgian  Government.  The  French  on 
August  1  assured  us  most  emphatically  that  they  would  respect 
our  neutrality.     If  this  should   prove  to  be  false,  the  Belgian 


20  T.i:sT  WK  F()iu;i:i 

army  will  oOVr  the  p;roati'st  possible  ivsistanco  to  invasion  l)y 
them.  The  ninitralit}-  of  Bolj>;iinn  is  guaiantoocl  by  the  powers, 
among  them  Germany,  and  tiie  attaek  which  the  German  Gov- 
ernment threatens  to  make  on  Belgium  would  be  a  violation  of 
the  Law  of  Nations.  No  military  necessity  can  justify  such  a 
violation  of  right. 

The  Belgian  Goverinnent,  if  it  accepted  the  i)i()p()sals  of 
Germany,  would  sacrifice  the  honor  of  the  nation  and  betray  its 
duty  to  Europe ;  and  it  therefore  refuses  to  believe  that  this 
will  be  demanded  in  order  to  maintain  its  independence.  If 
this  expectation  proves  unfounded,  the  Belgian  Government  is 
fully  decided  to  resist  by  all  means  in  its  powder  any  attack  against 
its  rights. 

On  Tuesday  the  King  brought  in  person  a  message 
to  the  Belgian  Legislature,  as  President  Wilson  has 
often  brought  such  messages  to  the  American  Con- 
gress. King  Albert's  message  was  in  substance  as 
follows : 

Xot  since  1830  has  Belgium  passed  through  such  an  anxious 
hour.  Our  independence  is  threatened.  We  still  have  hope 
that  what  we  dread  may  not  happen ;  but  if  we  have  to  resist 
invasion  and  defend  our  homes,  that  duty  will  find  us  armed, 
courageous,  and  ready  for  any  sacrifice.  Already  our  young 
men  have  risen  to  defend  their  country  in  danger.  I  send  to 
them,  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  a  brotherly  greeting.  Every- 
where in  the  provinces  of  Flanders  and  of  Walloon  alike,  in  city 
and  country,  one  feeling  fills  all  minds  —  that  our  duty  is  to  re- 
sist the  enemies  of  our  independence  with  firm  courage  and  as  a 
united  nation. 

The  perfect  mobihzation  of  our  army,  the  great  number  of 


A  KING   OF   HEROES  27 

volunteers,  the  devotion  of  the  citizens,  the  self-denial  of  families 
have  shown  beyond  doubt  the  bravery  of  the  Belgian  people. 
The  moment  to  act  has  come. 

No  one  in  this  nation  will  betray  his  duty.  The  army  is  ready, 
and  the  Government  has  absolute  trust  in  its  leaders  and  its 
soldiers. 

If  the  foreigner  violates  our  territory,  he  will  find  all  Belgians 
grouped  round  their  King  and  their  Government,  in  which  they 
have  absolute  confidence. 

I  have  faith  in  our  destinies.  A  nation  which  defends  its 
rights  commands  the  respect  of  all.  Such  a  nation  cannot  die. 
God  will  be  with  us  in  a  just  cause.  Long  live  independent 
Belgium ! 

Hardly  had  the  King  finished  his  noble  message, 
when  the  Prime  Minister  announced  to  the  Legisla- 
ture that  Germany  had  declared  war  upon  Belgium, 
and  that  her  troops  were  moving  against  Liege. 

Never  as  long  as  men  remember  the  history  of  these 
fateful  days  will  the  decisive  action  of  the  heroic 
Belgian  people  and  of  their  heroic  king  be  forgotten. 
The  slightest  hesitation  between  right  and  wrong 
would  have  set  civilization  and  human  liberty  back 
perhaps  a  thousand  years.  And  the  decision  had  to 
be  made  not  only  by  a  people,  but  by  a  young  king 
with  German  blood  in  his  veins  and  married  to  a 
German  princess  —  and  between  sunset  and  sunrise. 

Did  he  see  the  horrors  before  him  and  his  people? 
Did  he  see  the  destruction  of  the  most  beautiful  build- 
ings in  the  world,  the  pride  of  his  people?     Did  he 


sfc  lilt'  tearing  down  and  burning  of  tlio  entire  city 
of  Louvain.  with  its  univorsit}'  and  its  valuable  library 
containing  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  nearly  price- 
less hooks  and  manuscripts?  Did  he  see  the  children 
and  the  aginl  dying  by  the  roadside  of  hunger  and 
fatigue'.'  Did  h(^  see  the  Belgian  men  carried  off  as 
slaves  to  work  in  Oermany? 

Do  you  think  he  or  his  Queen  would  have  hesitated 
if  he  had?  Xo  one  who  really  knows  them  thinks  so. 
Nothing  can  justify  choosing  the  wrong.  King  Albert, 
the  King  of  Heroes,  and  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  Bel- 
gians are  honored  and  respected  by  all  who  love  liberty 
and  justice,  for  it  has  been  well  said,  "Treaties  and 
engagements  are  certainly  scraps  of  paper,  just  as 
promises  are  no  more  than  breaths.  But  upon  such 
scraps  of  paper  and  breaths  the  fabric  of  civilization 
has  been  built,  and  without  them  its  everyday  activity 
would  come  to  an  end."  They  represent  trul}^  the 
heroic  Belgian  people  who  by  their  decision  on  Sunday 
night,  August  2,  1914,  saved  the  world.  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, although  a  Bavarian  princess,  has  said  of  the 
Germans,  "Between  them  and  me  has  fallen  a  curtain 
of  iron  which  will  never  again  be  lifted." 

The  Belgian  Minister  to  the  United  States  said  of 
King  Albert  after  the  war  had  begun  : 

"It  is  when  one  talks  with  our  soldiers  that  one 
perceives  how  he  is  loved  ;  they  say,  all  of  them,  that 
they  will  die  for  him.     He  is  constantly  at  their  side, 


King  Albert  of  Belgium 
29    . 


30  LKST  wi:  F()kc;1':t 

om'oiiraiiiiii;"  tluMii  by  his  presence  and  his  courage. 
At  certain  moments,  he  adventures  too  far;  always 
he  is  in  tlie  very  midst  of  combat." 

Tlie  Kin*:;  and  Queen  are  both  of  them  unusually 
brave  and  daring.  Not  many  royal  pairs  would 
trust  their  lives  to  cross  the  English  Channel  and 
return  in  an  airplane,  as  they  did  in  the  summer  of 
1918  to  attend  a  celebration  held  b}^  the  King  and 
Queen  of  England. 

A  Belgian  soldier  writing  of  King  Albert  said : 
''The  King  came  and  placed  himself  at  my  side  in 
the  trench.  He  took  the  rifle  of  a  soldier  so  tired 
he  could  not  stand,  to  give  him  a  chance  to  rest,  and 
fired,  just  like  the  other  soldiers,  for  an  hour  and  a 
half.  He  himself  often  carries  their  letters  to  the 
soldiers  and  distributes  among  them  the  little  bundles 
which  their  friends  and  parents  send  them  from  the 
homes  now  destroyed.  He  shares  their  mess  with 
the  soldiers  and  he  calls. them  alwaj^s  'my  friends.' 
He  does  not  want  that  they  shall  do  him  honor;  he 
wishes  simply  to  be  a  soldier  in  all  that  the  word 
soldier  means.  One  night  he  was  seen,  exhausted  by 
fatigue,  sleeping  on  the  grass  at  the  side  of  the  road.'' 

Do  you  wonder  that  the  Belgians  love  their  King 
and  that  the  world  honors  him  as  the  Hero  King  of  a 
Nation  of  Heroes? 


DEFENSE   OF   LIEGE 

TO  Germany's  unfair  and  treacherous  proposal 
that  Belgium  be  false  to  her  promises  to  the 
world,  there  was  but  one  answer  for  Belgium.  It 
was  ''No."  Immediately  after  this  reply  had  been 
received  by  the  German  minister,  and  just  as  King 
Albert  had  finished  his  noble  speech  and  left  the 
House,  the  Belgian  Prime  Minister  had  to  announce 
to  Parliament  that  Germany  had  already  declared 
war  and  that  even  at  that  moment  the  German  soldiers 
were  advancing  toward  Liege,  and  within  a  few  hours 
would  be  besieging  the  city. 

Liege  was  the  industrial  center  of  Belgium,  just  as 
Antwerp  was  the  commercial,  and  Brussels  the  political 
center,  or  capital.  The  city  of  Liege  was  famous  for 
its  coal  mines,  glass  factories,  and  iron  works.  Of  the 
latter  the  Cockerill  Works  of  Seraing  have  been  named 
as  second  only  to  Krupp's.  The  city  is  important 
historically  and  also  politically  —  being  the  truest  de- 
mocracy in  Europe.  Its  people  were  happy  and  free. 
Its  governor  was  trusted  and  respected,  but  no  less 
bound  by  common  law  than  the  people  themselves. 

Liege  also  has  great  strategic  advantages.     Situated 

31 


32  LKST   WE  FORGET 

oil  tlu'  K'ft  l>nnk  of  the  M(nis(\  in  n  valley  at  \\\v  junc- 
tion of  three  rivers,  it  is  a  natural  stronghold.  It  was 
liesi(U^s  sujijiosed  to  he  fortificnl  more  perfectly  than 
any  other  eity  in  the  world.  A  ring  of  twelve  forts 
surrounded  it,  six  of  them  large  and  powerful,  six 
not  so  powerful  aiul  smaller. 

One  weakness,  however,  as  General  Emmich,  com- 
mander of  the  German  forces,  knew,  was  the  great 
distance  between  the  forts.  The  small  forts  were  not 
placed  between  the  large  ones ;  but  two  of  the  smaller 
works  were  together  on  the  southwest,  two  in  a  ten- 
mile  gap  across  the  northeast,  a  fifth  was  between 
two  of  the  larger  forts  on  the  southeast.  The  three 
points  where  the  small  forts  w^ere  situated  were  the 
])laces  that  the  enem}"  planned  to  attack. 

.Ajiother  weakness  was  the  smallness  of  the  garrison, 
—  74,000  men  were  needed  for  the  defense  of  Liege 
and  Xamur,  and  only  about  a  hundred  men  were 
stationed  in  some  of  the  forts. 

But  the  Belgians  were  equally  aware  of  the  weak 
points.  General  Leman  gave  orders  to  throw  up 
entrenchments  between  forts  and  to  fill  the  garrison. 
Even  then,  the  number  of  men  in  the  forts  was  but 
25,000,  when  it  should  have  been  at  least  50,000. 

Yet  the  Belgian  soldiers,  following  the  example  of 
their  brave  leader,  General  Leman,  did  all  they  could 
to  prepare  a  strong  resistance. 

Without    any   delay,    the   German    commander,  on 


DEFENSE   OF   LIEGE  33 

August  5,  sent  forward  his  men  in  the  7th  army  corps 
with  the  purpose  of  taking  Fort  Evegnee,  the  httle 
fort  on  the  southeast.  No  time  was  taken  to  bring 
up  the  heavy  guns  —  the  Germans  thought  they  would 
not  need  them.     In  this  they  were  mistaken. 

Three  times  they  rushed  forward,  but  were  repulsed. 
The  third  time  they  reached  the  Belgian  trenches ; 
but,  obeying  an  order  to  counter-attack,  the  Belgians 
rushed  out  and  drove  the  Germans  back,  inflicting 
heavy  losses  and  taking  800  prisoners. 

At  the  same  time,  an  attack  was  made  from  the 
northeast  by  the  German  9th  corps.  The  fighting 
was  even  fiercer  here,  but  the  enemy  managed  to 
break  through  the  defenses.  During  the  fighting, 
the  enemy  schemed  to  capture  the  Belgian  general. 
Could  the}^  take  General  Leman,  they  thought,  the 
Belgian  soldiers  would  not  long  hold  out.  There- 
fore, when  the  fight  was  fiercest,  eight  Uhlans,  two 
officers,  and  six  privates,  mistaken  for  Englishmen 
because  they  were  in  English  uniform,  rode  to  the 
headquarters  of  General  Leman  and  attempted  to 
take  him  prisoner.  But  they  were  discovered  and 
either  killed  or  captured,  after  a  hand-to-hand  struggle 
in  the  headquarter's  building  with  members  of  the 
Belgian  staff  aided  by  gendarmes.  Heavy  street 
fighting  forced  the  Germans  back  of  the  defenses 
once  more.  Then,  by  a  decisive  counter-attack,  the 
second  attack  of  the  enemy  was  repulsed. 


34  LEST   WE   FORGET 

That  same  night  came  a  third  attack  fiom  the 
southeast  again,  against  Fort  Evcgnde,  and  also  from 
the  southwest  against  the  two  small  foi'ts,  Chaud- 
fontaine  and  Embourg. 

It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night.  The  Belgians  on 
the  southwest  took  advantage  of  it  to  w^ork  at  strength- 
ening their  defenses.  They  needed  no  lights  and  used 
none,  for  they  were  in  less  danger  of  being  seen  by  the 
enemy. 

If  the  Germans  should  take  this  part  of  the  city, 
it  would  be  particularly  valuable  to  them,  for  here 
were  the  great  iron  works,  the  railway  depots,  the 
electric  lighting  w-orks,  and  the  small-arms  and  gun 
factory.  Besides,  they  could  then  without  doubt 
easily  march  on  through  Belgium  and,  as  the  German 
commander  planned,  overrun  France.  France  surely 
needed  all  the  time  w^hich  the  brave  Belgian  soldiers 
could  save  for  her,  for  it  had  never  been  thought  that 
Germany  would  break  through  on  that  side.  France, 
since  her  previous  w^ar  w^ith  Germany,  when  she  had 
lost  the  beautiful  provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
had  massed  her  garrisons  on  the  eastern  line.  In 
fact,  ver}^  few  forts  had  been  built  on  the  Belgian 
side,  since  the  two  countries  had  ahvays  maintained 
friendly  relationships  with  each  other,  and  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium  was  guaranteed  by  the  Powers. 
Xow,  if  Germany  could  not  be  held  back  until  the 
French  soldiers  could  be  brought  up  to  the  Belgian 


DEFENSE  OF  LIEGE  35 

border,  then  Germany's  plan  of  greed  and  tyranny 
would  be  successful,  and  all  of  Europe  would  be  lost. 
To  check  the  Germans  here  meant  to  save  the  rest  of 
Europe. 

The  city  of  Liege  lay  in  darkness,  save  for  the  light 
of  the  kindly  moon.  From  among  the  crowd  of 
buildings,  the  old  citadel  arose  like  a  great  shadow. 
The  searchlights  flashed  fitfully  from  the  forts,  travel- 
ing across  the  enemy's  position,  while  the  men  watched, 
half  expecting  that  the  enemy  would  advance  in  the 
darkness,  as  so  many  of  Germany's  black  deeds  were 
committed  under  cover  of  night.  Over  the  country, 
to  the  east,  lay  the  ruined  buildings,  the  broken  walls, 
and  the  dead  from  the  fearful  conflict  of  that  day. 

Half  an  hour  before  midnight,  a  storm  of  shot  and 
shell  broke  upon  the  trenches.  High  explosive  shells 
burst  with  brilliant  flashes  and  loud  uproar.  The 
guns  from  the  forts  replied,  and  the  city  shook  in  the 
thundering  shock. 

Heavy  forces  of  Germans  advanced,  made  a  rush 
for  the  ditches,  but  were  pushed  back.  Just  before 
daybreak,  however,  the  10th  corps  crept  up  silently 
and  rushed  forward  in  a  mass.  The  searchlights  were 
thrown  upon  them,  and  the  guns  of  the  Belgian  regi- 
ments fired  upon  them.  Only  after  a  hard  fight, 
lasting  five  long  hours,  did  the  Germans  break  and 
run. 

But  with  all  the  heroism  of  the  Belgian  garrison, 


36  LEST   WE  FORGET 

aft(M-  fiMii'  (ln>s  Mini  foiii-  niglits  of  ceaseless  fighting, 
\\\c  iiuMi  were  exhausted.  They  could  not  be  relieved, 
while  ihv  (Jeinians  had  many  fresh  troops  in  reserve. 
The  Belgian  gunners  might  be  able  to  hold  the  forts, 
but  they  could  not  long  hold  the  stretches  of  ground 
lu'tween.  But  l)y  tliis  time  the  Belgian  staff  realized 
this  and  ordercnl  two  of  the  generals  to  withdraw 
secretly  with  their  forces  while  yet  there  w^as  time. 
General  Leman  was  left  in  charge  of  the  remaining 
forces  to  continue  the  brave  defense  of  the  Avorks. 
The  Germans  had  brought  up  their  heavy  artillery. 
Sooner  or  later  they  would  break  through. 

On  August  6.  the  Germans  cut  their  way  through 
between  the  forts  and  entered  the  cit}-.  The  forts 
held  out  for  a  time,  still  holding  the  enemy  from  cross- 
ing the  rivers.  Once  they  had  nearly  crossed  the 
large  bridge  over  the  Meuse,  but  the  Belgians  blew 
it  up,  and  time  after  time,  as  the  pontoon-bridges  of 
the  Germans  were  thrown  across,  above  and  below^ 
Liege,  the  fire  from  the  forts  destroyed  them. 

Then,  surrounded  by  enemies  inside  the  city  and 
(jutside,  the  garrison  was  forced  to  retire.  In  the 
latter  part  of  August,  all  the  forts  of  Liege  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  Germans.  But  Belgium  had  made 
a  brave  resistance ;  she  had  stood  like  Horatius  at 
the  bridge.  She  had  kept  the  Germans  back,  and 
by  so  delaying  them  had  saved  Europe. 

The  defense  of  Liege  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 


DEFENSE   OF   LIEGE  37 

military  achievements  and  one  of  the  decisive  events 
in  world  histor3^ 

Its  brave  leader,  General  Leman,  did  not  see  the 
close  of  the  siege.  He  was  wounded  and  captured 
when  Fort  Loncin,  the  large  fort  where  he  had  taken 
his  stand  with  his  men,  exploded  under  the  terrific 
fire  of  the  enemy.  But  from  his  prison,  he  sent  the 
following  letter  to  King  Albert : 

After  a  severe  engagement  fought  on  August  4,  5,  and  6,  I 
considered  that  the  forts  of  Liege  could  not  play  any  other  part 
but  that  of  stopping  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  I  maintained  the 
military  government  in  order  to  coordinate  the  defense  as  much 
as  possible  and  in  order  to  exert  amoral  influence  on  the  garrison. 

Your  Majesty  is  aware  that  I  was  at  the  Fort  of  Loncin  on 
August  6  at  noon. 

Your  Majesty  will  learn  with  sorrow  that  the  fort  exploded 
yesterday  at  5 :  20  p.m.,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the  garrison 
is  buried  under  the  ruins.  If  I  have  not  died  in  this  catastrophe, 
it  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  my  work  had  removed  me  from  the 
stronghold.  Whilst  I  was  being  suffocated  by  the  gases  after 
the  explosion  of  the  powder,  a  German  captain  gave  me  a  drink. 
I  was  then  made  a  prisoner  and  brought  to  Liege.  I  am  aware 
that  this  letter  is  lacking  in  sequence,  but  I  am  physically  shaken 
by  the  explosion  of  the  Fort  of  Loncin.  For  the  honor  of  our 
armies  I  have  refused  to  surrender  the  fortress  and  the  forts. 
May  your  Majesty  deign  to  forgive  me.  In  Germany,  where  I 
am  taken,  my  thoughts  will  be,  as  they  have  always  been,  with 
Belgium  and  her  King.  I  would  willingly  have  given  my  life 
better  to  serve  them,  but  death  has  not  been  granted  me. 

General  Leman. 

345486 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   LOUVAIN 

M(^RE  than  owe  liiuulred  j'cars  ago,  Napoleon, 
the  famous  French  general,  started  out  to 
conquer  tlie  world,  just  as  the  Germans  have  been 
dreaming  of  doing.  Napoleon  had  almost  unbelievable 
success  —  carrying  the  banner  of  France  into  prac- 
tically the  whole  of  Europe.  But  into  whatever 
l)rovinces  Napoleon  w^ent,  though  bent  upon  the 
subjugation  of  a  world,  he  never  allowed  his  army 
to  wantonh'  lay  waste  and  destroy.  There  was  great 
attraction  for  him  in  the  wonderful  works  of  art  which 
he  found  in  many  of  the  large  cities.  He  ordered  his 
men  to  seize  these  works  secretly  and  to  carry  them 
back  to  Paris.  There  they  were  preserved.  France 
indeed  is  now  named  the  preserver  of  the  arts. 

Had  the  German  officers  done  even  this,  their  crime 
would  not  be  so  great  to-day.  The  French  not  only 
saved  art  and  property,  but  also  tried  to  save  the 
lives  of  non-combatants  as  often  as  possible. 

One  of  the  leading  daily  papers  of  Cologne,  Ger- 
many, explained  in  its  issue  of  February  10,  1915, 
why  the  German  soldiers  have  committed  deeds  that 
will  forever  shame  the  German  people  in  the  minds 

38 


THE  DESTRUCTION   OF  LOUVAIN  39 

of  the  rest  of  humanity.  Like  the  invasion  of  Belgium, 
these  deeds  are  not  defended  as  right  or  just  but  as 
necessary  to  help  on  the  German  advance  to  victory. 
The  article  read  as  follows  : 

We  have  adopted  it  as  a  principle  that  the  wrong-doing  of  an 
individual  must  be  expiated  by  the  entire  community  to.  which 
he  belongs.  The  village  in  which  our  troops  are  fired  upon  will 
be  burned.  If  the  guilty  one  is  not  found,  substitutes  will  be 
chosen  from  the  population  at  large,  and  will  be  executed  under 
martial  law.  .  .  .  The  innocent  must  suffer  with  the  guilty, 
and,  if  the  latter  are  not  caught,  must  receive  punishment  in 
their  place,  not  because  a  crime  has  been  committed,  but  to  pre- 
vent the  commission  of  a  future  crime.  Every  case  in  which  a 
village  is  burned  down,  or  hostages  are  executed,  or  the  inhabit- 
ants of  a  village  which  has  taken  arms  against  our  invading 
forces  are  killed,  is  a  warning  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory 
not  yet  occupied.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  destruction 
of  Battice,  Herve,  Louvain,  and  Dinant  has  served  as  warning. 
The  devastation  and  bloodshed  of  the  opening  days  of  the  war 
have  prevented  the  larger  Belgian  cities  from  attempting  any 
attacks  upon  the  weak  forces  with  which  it  was  necessary  for  us 
to  hold  them. 

The  destruction  of  works  of  art  and  of  the  beautiful 
cathedrals  built  in  the  Middle  Ages  cannot  be  ex- 
plained and  defended  in  this  way,  but  some  other 
pitiable  and  often  childish  excuse  is  offered.  The 
Germans  always  assume  that  others  do  as  they  would 
do  in  the  same  circumstances.  They  assumed  Eng- 
land would  not  interfere,  if  the  neutrality  of  Belgium 


40  hV.^T   WK   Fonr.KT 

was  violated,  for  (Jcnnaiiy  would  not  have  interfered, 
had  she  been  in  Enj^land's  place.  The>'  as.sumed  the 
French  and  English  would  use  the  towers  of  the  cathe- 
drals for  observation  i)()sts.  for  Germany  would  have 
done  .so;  and  :ihhoui2;h  th(\v  were  promi.sed  })y  the 
Allied  officers  that  the  towers  would  not  be  .so  u.sed 
and  were  informed  by  the  bishops  and  priests  that 
th(\v  were  not  so  used,  yet  they  j^roceeded  to  destroy 
the  beautiful  structures.  Their  own  promises  and 
statements  in  a  similar  case  would  have  been  of  no 
\alue.  and  so  they  assumed  the  promises  of  others 
were  valueless  and  that  th(^  priests  had  been  com- 
pelled to  lie  about  the  matter,  as  the  Germans  ^vould 
have  forced  them  to  do,  if  possible. 

They  also  fired  upon  the  cathedrals  of  Ypres,  Sois- 
.sons,  Arras,  and  Rheims  in  retaliation,  whenever  the 
enemy  bombarded  the  German  lines  near  by.  De- 
stroying a  cathedral  was  like  killing  pure  and  beautiful 
women  and  children.  The  Huns  felt  the  Allies  would 
let  them  advance  rather  than  have  it  happen. 

As  the  Germans  were  on  their  way  to  seize  Antwerp, 
after  they  had  taken  the  Belgian  capital,  they  ^vere 
driven  out  of  Malines  and  turned  upon  Louvain. 
They  were  greatly  irritated  at  the  strong  resistance 
which  the  Belgian  army  was  making.  They  even 
feared  that  suddenly  Belgium's  allies  would  join  her 
at  Antwerp  and  invade  Germany,  upsetting  the  Ger- 
man plans  entirel3\ 


THE  DESTRUCTION   OF  LOUVAIN  41 

Therefore  they  sought  to  terrorize  and  subdue  the 
country  by  a  complete  destruction  of  Louvain,  one  of 
the  most  ancient  and  historic  towns  in  that  section 
of  Europe.  Its  buildings  and  monuments  were  of 
world-wide  interest. 

Repulsed  and  chased  back  to  the  outskirts  of  Lou- 
vain, the  troops  were  ordered  to  destroy  the  town. 
The  soldiers  marched  down  the  streets,  singing  and 
jeering,  while  the  officers  rode  about  in  their  military 
automobiles  with  an  air  of  bravado,  as  they  contem- 
plated the  deed  they  were  about  to  do.  They  first 
attempted  to  anger  the  people,  so  as  to  have  some 
pretext  for  the  criminal  deed  they  had  determined  upon. 
But  the  people,  knowing  the  character  of  the  Ger- 
mans, showed  remarkable  restraint.  They  gave  up 
all  firearms,  even  old  rifles  and  bows  and  arrows 
that  were  valuable  historic  relics.  They  housed  and 
fed  their  enemies,  paid  them  immense  sums  of  money; 
and  when  the  commander  sent  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  mattresses,  they  even  brought  their  ow^n  beds  and 
cast  them,  with  everything  they  could  lay  hands  on, 
down  into  the  market-place.  They  knew  the  penalty 
for  refusal  was  the  death  of  their  respected  burgomaster. 

The  people  of  Boston ,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution , 
refused  to  feed  and  house  the  British  soldiers.  But 
these  people  of  Louvain  submitted  to  much  worse 
than  that,  hoping  that  the  enemy  would  pass  on  and 
spare  their  lives  and  thcii-  homes. 


42  LEST   Wl']   FORGET 

But  on  Tuesday  evening,  August  25,  as  the  people 
were  sitting  down  to  their  evening  meal,  the  soldiers 
suddenly'  rushed  wildl}'  through  the  streets,  and 
furnished  with  bombs,  set  fire  to  all  parts  of  the  town. 
That  night  witnessed  some  of  the  most  terrible  deeds 
in  all  history.  The  town  of  45,000  inhabitants  was 
wiped  out;  man}-  of  the  citizens  were  killed,  and 
others  were  sent  by  train  to  an  unknown  destination. 
Besides  the  loss  of  life,  there  was  lost  to  the  world 
forever  a  great  store  of  historic  and  artistic  wealth. 

But  one  principal  building  in  all  the  town  w^as  left 
standing  —  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  This  was  purposely 
saved  as  a  monument  to  German  authority,  when 
the  whole  country  should  be  taken  over  and  rebuilt 
as  a  German-Belgium ! 

This  cowardly  act  of  cruelty  will  always  stand  out 
as  typical  of  German  atrocity.  Louvain  was  unde- 
fended and  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 
B}'  this  one  deed  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  Ger- 
many showed  to  what  depths  of  degradation  she  would 
stoop.  By  the  destruction  of  Louvain,  she  put  back 
civilization  and  culture  for  five  hundred  years,  and 
her  o^^Tl  good  name  was  burned  awa}'  from  among  the 
nations  of  the  world.  The  Germans  from  that  day 
were  branded  as  the  enemies  of  the  human  race.  The 
world  sprang  with  united  sympathy  to  the  side  of  little 
Belgium  —  so  that  for  her  the  destruction  of  Louvain 
meant  more  than  a  glorious  victory. 


CARDINAL   MERCIER 

HE  is  an  old  man,  nearly  seventy,  with  thin,  grayish- 
white  hair.  He  is  very  tall,  as  was  Abraham 
Lincoln,  nearly  six  feet  and  six  inches.  He  is  thin, 
with  deep-set,  jet-black  eyes,  and  thin,  almost  blood- 
less lips. 

He  is  a  symbol  of  oppressed  Belgium,  —  frail  in 
body,  lacking  great  physical  strength,  but  standing 
tall  and  erect  with  flashing  eyes ;  unconquerable 
because  of  his  unconquerable  soul. 

The  spirit  of  such  men  as  he,  and  of  such  nations 
as  his  beloved  Belgium,  is  well  expressed  in  Henley's 
now  famous  ^'Invictus." 

Out  of  the  night  that  covers  me, 

Black  as  the  pit  from  pole  to  pole, 
I  thank  whatever  gods  may  be 

For  my  unconquerable  soul. 

In  the  fell  clutch  of  circumstance 

I  have  not  winced  nor  cried  aloud, 
Under  the  bludgeonings  of  chance 

My  head  is  bloody,  but  unbowed. 

******  ^i 

43 


44  LEST    \Vi;    I'OHGF/r 

It  matters  not  how  strait  the  gate, 

How  charged  with  punishments  the  scroll. 

I  am  the  master  of  my  fate ; 
I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul. 

Amidst  all  the  horrible  deeds  committed  by  the 
Germans  in  Belgium,  Cardinal  Mercier  has  spoken 
the  truth  publicly  and  fearlessly.  His  unconquerable 
soul  seems  to  have  protected  his  frail  body.  He  is 
one  of  the  great  heroes  of  brave,  suffering  Belgium 
—  a  hero  who  carries  neither  sword  nor  gun ;  but  his 
courage  might  be  envied  by  every  soldier  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  his  judgment  by  every  commander 
directing  them. 

The  Germans  seemed  to  fear  him  from  the  first. 
General  von  Bissing.  who  was  the  German  Governor 
of  invaded  Belgium,  wrote  to  Cardinal  Mercier,  after 
the  Cardinal's  Easter  letter  to  the  oppressed  Bel- 
gians appeared,  and  called  him  to  account,  suggesting 
what  might  happen  to  him  if  he  did  not  cease  his 
attacks  upon  the  Germans  and  German  methods. 

The  Cardinal  replied  that  he  would  never  surrender 
his  liberty  of  judgment  and  that,  whenever  the  orders 
and  laws  of  the  Germans  were  in  conflict  with  the 
laws  of  God,  he  would  follow  the  latter  and  advise 
his  people  to  do  the  same. 

"We  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,"  he  wrote,  ''for  we  pay  you  the  silent  dread 
of  your  strength,  but  we  keep,  sacred  in  our  hearts 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  45 

and  free  from  your  orders,  our  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong. 

"It  was  not  without  careful  thought  that  we  de- 
nounced to  the  world  the  evils  you  have  done  to  our 
brothers  and  sisters  —  frightful  evils  and  horrible 
crimes,  the  tragic  horror  of  which  cold  reason  refuses 
to  admit. 

''But  had  we  not  done  so,  we  should  have  felt  our- 
selves unworthy  of  our  high  office. 

''As  a  Belgian,  we  have  heard  the  cries  of  sorrow  of 
our  people  ;  as  a  patriot,  we  have  sought  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  our  country;  and  as  a  bishop,  we  have 
denounced  the  crimes  against  innocent  priests." 

They  deprived  him  of  his  automobile,  with  which 
he  used  to  hasten  to  all  parts  of  Belgium  to  assist 
and  comfort  sufferers  from  German  tyranny  and 
torture.     They  ordered  him  to  remain  in  his  residence. 

As  a  part  of  his  church  duty,  he  wished  to  go  to 
Brussels  to  celebrate  high  mass.  He  applied  for  a 
pass  which  would  allow  him  to  go  by  train  or  trolley. 
An  excuse  was  invented  for  refusing  it.  Then  the 
Cardinal  sent  word  to  the  Commandant  that  he  must 
go  and  that  he  would  walk.  Two  hours  afterward 
he  left  his  residence  on  foot,  accompanied  by  two 
or  three  priests,  and  started  on  his  walk  of  fifteen 
or  more  miles  to  Brussels. 

Men,  women,  and  cliildi-en,  and  priests  from  every 
pari  of  the  city  cro\v(hMl  about  him  and  followed  him, 


•Ift  LEST   WE   FORGET 

till  he  reached  the  German  sentries,  who  stopped  the 
erowd  and  demanded  where  the}^  were  going. 

The  Cardinal  showed  his  Ausweiss,  an  identifica- 
tion card  wliich  every  I^elgian  must  carry,  and  he  was 
allowed  to  proceed  with  two  i)riests  for  companions. 
The  other  priests  demanded  the  right  to  go  on,  and  a 
lieated  dispute  arose  between  them  and  the  sen'tries. 
One  of  the  priests  lost  his  temper  and  forgot  himself 
so  far  that  he  began  to  beat  one  of  the  sentries  with 
his  umbrella.  The  other  sentry  called  for  help,  and 
tlie  crowd  was  soon  dispersed.  The  angry  priest  was 
put  under  arrest  and  led  off  to  the  guardhouse. 

Tlie  Cardinal  had  gone  on  but  a  short  w^ay  w^hen 
the  uproar  behind  him  caused  him  to  stop  and  look 
back  at  what  was  happening.  When  he  saw  the 
priest  led  off  bj^  the  soldiers,  he  and  his  companions 
turned  back  and  followed  the  soldiers  to  the  little 
guardhouse.  He  walked  directly  in,  looking  neither 
to  the-  right  nor  the  left,  standing  a  head  above  the 
rest  of  the  crowd.  He  fixed  his  piercing  black  eyes 
upon  the  eyes  of  the  priest ;  then  he  beckoned  him 
to  come  and  turned  and  walked  out,  followed  by  the 
priest. 

The  soldiers  made  no  attempt  to  stop  them.  They 
seemed  to  recognize  an  authority  that  they  could  not 
help  obej^ing,  even  though  they  did  not  want  to. 
The  Cardinal  accompanied  by  the  three  priests  went 
on  down  the  road  and  out  of  Malines  towards  Brus- 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  47 

sels.     They  walked  about  half  way  to  the  city  and 
then  took  the  trolleys. 

In  speaking  of  the  Germans,  the  Cardinal  is  re- 
ported to  have  said,  '^They  are  so  stupid,  these  Ger- 
mans !  Sometimes  I  feel  that  they  are  like  silly, 
cruel  children,  and  that  I  should  do  something  to  help 
them." 

He  loves  America  and  the  Americans  and  is  grateful 
for  all  that  the  United  States  have  done  for  his 
suffering  people.  He  told  one  of  his  fellow-workers 
who  had  become  discouraged,  ^'If  you  follow  a  great 
Captain,  as  I  do,  you  will  never  be  discouraged." 

In  him  martyred  Belgium  has  found  a  voice  heard 
round  the  world.  He  has  never  ceased  to  denounce 
the  atrocious  crimes  of  the  German  masters  of  his 
country  and  he  has  continually  sought  to  comfort 
and  cheer  his  unhappy  people.  He  sees  far,  and  so 
he  sees  clearly  the  power  outside  ourselves  that  finally 
brings  to  Right  the  victory  over  Might.  His  Pas- 
toral Letter,  Christmas,  1914,  will  never  be  forgotten 
nor  will  the  words  of  cheer  to  his  suffering  people 
when  he  reminds  them  of  the  greatest  truth  of  life, 
that  only  through  sacrifice  and  suffering  come  the 
things  best  worth  while.  His  statement  in  letters 
to  the  German  Commandant  of  the  facts  concerning 
the  deportation  of  Belgians  into  Germany,  to  work 
as  virtual  slaves,  will  forever  form  part  of  the  records 
of  history's  blackest  deeds. 


IS  LlOSr    Wi:    FORGET 

Tins  l^istoial  Li-'tter  of  ( 'hi'istinns.  1914.  is  in  part 
as  follows  : 

It  was?  ill  Rome  itself  that  I  received  th(>  tidings  —  stroke  after 
strike  ^  of  tlu>  destruction  of  the  church  of  Loiivain,  of  the 
Imrninj:;  of  the  i.iltrary  and  of  the  scientific  lal)oiatoi'ics  oi'  our 
great  I'niversity  and  of  the  ilevastation  of  the  city,  and  next  of 
the  wlu)lesale  shtx)ting  of  citizens,  and  tortures  inflicted  upon 
women  and  ciiildren,  and  upon  unarmed  and  undefended  men. 
And  while  1  was  still  undei-  the  shock  of  these  calamities,  the 
telegraph  lirought  us  news  of  the  bombardment  of  our  beautiful 
metroix>litan  church,  of  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  of  the  epis- 
copal palace,  and  of  a  great  i)ait  of  oui'  dear  city  of  Malines. 

Afar,  without  means  of  connnunication  with  you,  I  was  com- 
pelled to  lock  my  grief  within  my  own  afflicted  heart,  and  to  carry 
it,  with  the  thought  of  you,  which  never  left  me,  to  my  God. 

I  needed  courage  and  light,  and  sought  them  in  such  thoughts 
as  these.  A  disaster  has  come  upon  the  world,  and  our  beloved 
little  Belgium,  a  nation  so  faithful  in  the  great  mass  of  her  popu- 
lation to  God,  so  upright  in  her  patriotism,  so  n()l)le  in  her  King 
and  Government,  is  the  first  sufferer.  She  bleeds ;  her  sons  are 
stricken  down,  within  her  fortresses,  and  upon  her  fields,  in  de- 
fense of  her  rights  and  of  her  territory.  Soon  there  will  not  bo 
one  Belgian  family  not  in  mourning.  Why  all  this  sorrow,  my 
God?     Lord,  Lord,  hast  Thou  forsaken  us? 

The  truth  is  that  no  disaster  on  earth  is  as  terrible  as  that 
which  our  sins  provoke. 

I  summon  you  to  face  what  has  befallen  us,  and  to  speak  to 
you  simply  and  directly  of  what  is  your  duty,  and  of  what  may 
be  your  hope.  That  duty  I  shall  express  in  two  words :  Patriot- 
ism and  Endurance. 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  49 

PATRIOTISM 

When,  on  my  return  from  Rome,  I  went  t©  Havre  to  greet  our 
Belgian,  French,  and  Enghsh  wounded ;  when,  later  at  Malines, 
at  Louvain,  at  Antwerp,  it  was  given  to  me  to  take  the  hands  of 
those  brave  men  who  carried  a  bullet  in  their  flesh,  a  wound  on 
their  forehead,  because  they  had  marched  to  the  attack  of  the 
enemy,  or  borne  the  shock  of  his  onslaught,  it  was  a  word  of 
gratitude  to  them  that  rose  to  my  lips.  "O  brave  friends,"  I 
said,  "it  was  for  us,  it  was  for  each  one  of  us,  it  was  for  me,  that 
you  risked  your  lives  and  are  now  in  pain.  I  am  moved  to  tell 
you  of  my  respect,  of  my  thankfulness,  to  assure  you  that  the 
whole  nation  knows  how  nuich  she  is  in  debt  to  you." 

For  in  truth  our  soldiers  are  our  saviors. 

A  first  time,  at  Liege,  they  saved  France ;  a  second  time,  in 
Flanders,  they  halted  the  advance  of  the  enemy  upon  Calais- 
France  and  England  know  it ;  and  Belgium  stands  before  them 
both,  and  before  the  entire  world,  as  a  nation  of  heroes.  Never 
before  in  my  whole  life  did  I  feel  so  proud  to  be  a  Belgian  as 
when,  on  the  platforms  of  French  stations,  and  halting  a  while 
in  Paris,  and  visiting  London,  I  was  witness  of  the  enthusiastic 
admiration  our  allies  feel  for  the  heroism  of  our  army.  Oiu- 
King  is,  in  the  esteem  of  all,  at  the  very  summit  of  the  moral 
scale ;  he  is  doubtless  the  only  man  who  does  not  recognize  that 
fact,  as,  simple  as  the  simplest  of  his  soldiers,  he  stands  in  the 
trenches  and  puts  new  courage,  by  the  calmness  of  his  face,  into 
the  hearts  of  those  of  whom  he  requires  that  they  shall  not  doubt 
of  their  country.  The  foremost  duty  of  eveiy  Belgian  citizen  at 
this  hour  is  gratitude  to  the  army. 

If  any  man  had  rescued  you  from  shipwreck  or  from  a  (ire, 
you  would  hold  yourselves  bound  to  him  })y  a  debt  of  everlasting 
thankfulness.  But  it  is  not  one  man,  it  is  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men  who  fought,  who  suffered,  who  fell  for  you  so  that 


50  LEST  WE  FORCxET 

you  mipiht  he  free,  so  that  Belgium  might  keep  her  independence, 
so  that  after  battle,  she  might  rise  nobler,  purcn-,  more  erect,  and 
more  glorious  than  before. 

Tray  tlaily,  my  Brethren,  for  these  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
thousand,  and  for  their  leaders  to  victory;  pray  for  our  brothers 
in  arms ;  pray  for  the  fallen ;  pray  for  those  who  are  still  en- 
gaged ;  pray  for  the  recruits  who  arc  making  ready  for  the  fight 
to  come. 

Better  than  any  other  man,  perhaps,  do  I  know  what  our 
unhappy  country  has  undergone.  Nor  will  any  Belgian,  I  trust, 
doubt  of  what  I  suffer  in  my  soul,  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  Bishop, 
in  sympathy  with  all  this  sorrow.  These  last  four  months  have 
seemed  to  me  age-long.  By  thousands  have  our  brave  ones  been 
mown  down ;  wives,  mothers  are  weeping  for  those  they  shall 
not  see  again ;  hearths  are  desolate ;  dire  poverty  spreads,  anguish 
increases.  At  MaUnes,  at  Antwerp,  the  people  of  two  great 
cities  have  been  given  over,  the  one  for  six  hours,  the  otlier  for 
thirty-four  hours  of  a  continuous  bombardment,  to  the  throes 
of  death.  I  have  passed  through  the  greater  part  of  the  most 
terribly  devastated  districts  and  the  ruins  I  beheld,  and  the 
ashes,  were  more  dreadful  than  I,  prepared  by  the  saddest  of 
forebodings,  could  have  imagined.  Other  parts  which  I  have 
not  yet  had  time  to  visit  have  in  like  manner  been  laid  waste. 
Churches,  schools,  asylums,  hospitals,  convents  in  great  numbers, 
are  in  ruins.  Entire  villages  have  all  but  disappeared.  At 
Werchter-Wackerzeel,  for  instance,  out  of  three  hundred  and 
eighty  homes,  a  hundred  and  thirty  remain ;  at  Tremeloo  two 
thirds  of  the  village  are  overthrown  ;  at  Bucken  out  of  a  hundred 
houses,  twenty  are  standing ;  at  SchafTen  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine  houses  out  of  two  hundred  are  destroyed  —  eleven  still  stand. 
At  Louvain  the  third  part  of  the  buildings  are  down  ;  one  thousand 
and  seventy-four  dwellings  have  disappeared ;   on  the  town  land 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  51 

and  in  the  suburbs,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  houses  have  been  burnt. 

In  this  dear  city  of  Louvain,  perpetually  in  my  thoughts,  the 
magnificent  church  of  St.  Peter  will  never  recover  its  former 
splendor.  The  ancient  college  of  St.  Ives,  the  art-schools,  the 
consular  and  commercial  schools  of  the  University,  the  old  markets, 
our  rich  library  with  its  collections,  its  unique  and  unpublished 
manuscripts,  its  archives,  its  gallery  of  great  portraits  of  illus- 
trious rectors,  chancellors,  professors,  dating  from  the  time  of 
its  foundation,  which  preserved  for  masters  and  students  alike 
a  noble  tradition  and  were  an  incitement  in  their  studies  —  all 
this  accumulation  of  intellectual,  of  historic,  and  of  artistic  riches, 
the  fruit  of  the  labors  of  five  centuries  —  all  is  reduced  to  dust. 

Thousands  of  Belgian  citizens  have  in  like  manner  been  de- 
ported to  the  prisons  of  Germany,  to  Miinsterlagen,  to  Celle,  to 
Magdeburg.  At  Miinsterlagen  alone  three  thousand  one  hundred 
civil  prisoners  were  numbered.  History  will  tell  of  the  physical 
and  moral  torments  of  their  long  martyrdom.  Hundreds  of 
innocent  men  were  shot.  I  possess  no  complete  hst,  but  I  know 
that  there  were  ninety-one  shot  at  Aerschot,  and  that  there, 
under  pain  of  death,  their  fellow  citizens  were  compelled  to  dig 
their  graves.  In  the  Louvain  group  of  communes  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six  persons,  men  and  women,  old  men  and  babies, 
rich  and  poor,  in  health  and  sickness,  were  shot  or  burnt. 

In  my  diocese  alone  I  know  that  thirteen  priests  were  put  to 
death.  One  of  these,  the  parish  priest  of  Gelrode,  suffered,  I 
believe,  a  veritable  martyrdom. 

We  can  neither  number  our  dead  nor  compute  the  measure 
of  our  ruins.  And  what  would  it  be  if  we  turned  our  sad  steps 
towards  Li^ge,  Namur,  Andenne,  Dinant,  Tamines,  Charleroi, 
and  elsewhere? 

And  where  lives  were  not  taken,  and  where  buildings  were  not 


52  LEST  WI-:   F(^HGET 

ihrown  down,  what  anguish  unioveal(Ml !  Fainihps,  hitherto 
hvinii  at  case,  now  in  hit  tor  want  ;  all  conuncM-co  at  an  (mkI,  all 
i-arriTs  ruiniHl ;  industry  ai  a  standstill;  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  workinguion  without  eniployiuont  ;  working-wonion,  shop- 
girls, lumihlo  servant-girls  without  the  means  of  earning  their 
bread;  and  poor  souls  foi-lorn  on  the  bed  of  sickness  and  fever, 
erving.  "()  Lord,  how  long,  how  long?" 

How  long,  O  Lord,  they  wondei-ed,  how  long  wilt  Thou  suli'er 
the  pride  of  this  iniciuity?  Or  wilt  Thou  hnally  justify  the  im- 
pious opinion  that  Thou  earest  no  more  for  the  work  of  Thy 
hands?  A  shock  from  a  thunderbolt,  and  behold  all  human 
foresight  is  set  at  naught.  Europe  trembles  upon  the  brink  of 
destruction. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom. 

Many  are  the  thoughts  that  throng  the  breast  of  man  to-day, 
and  the  chief  of  them  all  is  this :  God  reveals  Himself  as  the 
Master.  The  nations  that  made  the  attack,  and  the  nations 
that  are  warring  in  self-defense,  alike  confess  themselves  to  be 
in  the  hand  of  Him  without  whom  nothing  is  made,  nothing  is 
done.  Men  long  unaccustomed  to  prayer  are  turning  again  to 
God.  Within  the  army,  within  the  civil  world,  in  public,  and 
within  the  individual  conscience,  there  is  prayer.  Nor  is  that 
prayer  to-daj'  a  word  learnt  })y  rote,  uttered  lightly  by  the  lip ; 
it  surges  from  the  troubled  heart,  it  takes  the  form,  at  the  feet 
of  God,  of  the  very  sacrifice  of  life. 

God  will  save  Belgium,  my  Brethren,  you  cannot  doubt  it. 

Naj',  rather,  He  is  saving  her. 

Across  the  smoke  of  conflagration,  across  the  stream  of  blood, 
have  you  not  glimpses,  do  you  not  perceive  signs,  of  His  love  for 
us?  Is  there  a  patriot  among  us  who  does  not  know  that  Belgium 
has  grown  great?  Xay,  which  of  us  w(jiild  liavo  the  heart  to 
cancel  this  last  page  of  our  national  history?     Which  of  us  does 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  '       53 

not  exult  in  the  brightness  of  the  glory  of  this  shattered  nation? 
Let  us  acknowledge  that  we  needed  a  lesson  in  patriotism.  There 
were  Belgians,  and  many  such,  who  wasted  their  time  and  their 
talents  in  futile  quarrels  of  class  with  class,  of  race  with  race, 
of  passion  with  personal  passion. 

Yet  when,  on  the  second  of  August,  a  mighty  foreign  power, 
confident  in  its  own  strength  and  defiant  of  the  faith  of  treaties, 
dared  to  threaten  us  in  our  independence,  then  did  all  Belgians, 
without  difference  of  party,  or  of  condition,  or  of  origin,  rise  up 
as  one  man,  close-ranged  about  their  own  king  and  their  own 
government,  and  cry  to  the  invader:   "Thou  shalt  not  pass!" 

At  once,  instantly,  we  were  conscious  of  our  own  patriotism. 
For  down  within  us  all  is  something  deeper  than  personal  in- 
terests, than  personal  kinships,  than  party  feeling,  and  this  is 
the  need  and  the  will  to  devote  ourselves  to  that  more  general 
interest  which  Rome  called  the  public  thing,  Res  publica.  And 
this  profound  will  within  us  is  Patriotism. 

Our  country  is  not  a  mere  gathering  of  persons  or  of  families 
dwelling  on  the  same  soil,  having  amongst  themselves  relations, 
more  or  less  intimate,  of  business,  of  neighborhood,  of  a  com- 
munity of  memories,  happy  or  unhappy.  Not  so  ;  it  is  an  associa- 
tion of  living  souls  to  be  defended  and  safeguarded  at  all  costs, 
even  the  cost  of  blood,  under  the  leadership  of  those  presiding 
over  its  fortunes.  And  it  is  because  of  this  general  spirit  that 
the  people  of  a  country  live  a  common  life  in  the  present,  through 
the  past,  through  the  aspirations,  the  hopes,  the  confidence  in  a 
life  to  come,  which  they  share  together.  Patriotism,  an  internal 
principle  of  order  and  of  unity,  an  organic  bond  of  the  members 
of  a  nation,  was  placed  by  the  finest  thinkers  of  Greece  and  Rome 
at  the  head  of  the  natural  virtues. 


54  LEST   Wi:   FOKCET 

EXDUUANCE 

Wo  may  now  say,  my  Brethren,  without  unworthy  pride,  that 
our  Utile  Bel^iium  has  taken  a  foremost  place  in  the  esteem  of 
nations.  1  am  aware  that  certain  onlookers,  notably  in  Italy 
anil  in  HolUuul,  lun'e  asked  how  it  could  be  necessary  to  expose 
tliis  country  to  so  immense  a  loss  of  wealth  and  of  life,  and  whether 
a  verbal  manifesto  against  hostile  aggression,  or  a  single  cannon- 
shot  on  the  frontier,  would  not  have  served  the  purpose  of  pro- 
test. But  assuredly  all  men  of  good  feeling  will  be  with  us  m 
our  rejection  of  these  paltiy  counsels. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1839,  a  treaty  was  signed  in  London,  by 
King  Leopold,  in  the  name  of  Belgium  on  the  one  part,  and  by 
the  Emperor  of  Austria,  the  King  of  France,  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, the  King  of  Prussia,  and  the  Emperor  of  Russia  on  the 
other ;  and  its  seventh  article  decreed  that  Belgium  should  form 
a  separate  and  perpetually  neutral  State,  and  should  be  held  to 
the  observance  of  this  neutrality  in  regard  to  all  other  States. 
The  signers  promised,  for  themselves  and  their  successors,  upon 
their  oaths,  to  fulfill  and  to  observe  that  treaty  in  every  point 
and  every  article.  Belgium  was  thus  bound  in  honor  to  defend 
her  own  independence.  She  kept  her  oath.  The  other  Powers 
were  bound  to  respect  and  to  protect  her  neutrality.  Germany 
violated  her  oath  ;   England  kept  hers. 

These  are  the  facts. 

The  laws  of  conscience  are  sovereign  laws.  We  should  have 
acted  unworthily  had  we  evaded  our  obligation  by  a  mere  feint 
of  resistance.  And  now  we  would  not  change  our  first  resolu- 
tion ;  we  exult  in  it.  Being  called  upon  to  write  a  most  solemn 
page  in  the  history  of  our  country,  we  resolved  that  it  should  be 
also  a  sincere,  also  a  glorious  page.  And  as  long  as  we  are  re- 
quired to  give  proof  of  endurance,  so  long  we  shall  endure. 

All  classes  of  our  citizens  have  devoted  their  sons  to  the  cause 


CARDINAL   MERCIER  55 

of  their  country ;  but  the  poorer  part  of  the  population  have  set 
the  noblest  example,  for  they  have  suffered  also  privation,  cold, 
and  famine.  If  I  may  judge  of  the  general  feeling  from  what  I 
have  witnessed  in  the  humbler  quarters  of  Malines,  and  in  the 
most  cruelly  afflicted  districts  of  my  diocese,  the  people  are  ener- 
getic in  their  endurance.  They  look  to  be  righted  ;  they  will  not 
hear  of  surrender. 

The  sole  lawful  authority  in  Belgium  is  that  of  our  King,  of 
the  elected  representatives  of  the  nation.  This  authority  alone 
has  a  right  to  our  affection,  our  submission. 

Occupied  provinces  are  not  conquered  provinces.  Belgium  is 
no  more  a  German  province  than  Galicia  is  a  Russian  province. 
Nevertheless  the  occupied  portion  of  our  country  is  in  a  position 
it  is  compelled  to  endure.  The  greater  part  of  our  towns,  having 
surrendered  to  the  enemy  on  conditions,  are  bound  to  observe 
those  conditions.  From  the  outset  of  military  operations,  the 
civil  authorities  of  the  country  urged  upon  all  private  persons 
the  necessity  of  avoiding  hostile  acts  against  the  enemy's  army. 
That  instruction  remains  in  force.  It  is  our  army,  and  our  army 
solely,  in  league  with  the  brave  troops  of  our  Allies,  that  has 
the  honor  and  the  duty  of  national  defense.  Let  us  intrust 
the  army  with  our  final  deliverance. 

Towards  the  persons  of  those  who  are  holding  dominion  among 
us  by  military  force,  and  who  cannot  but  know  of  the  energy 
with  which  we  have  defended,  and  are  still  defending,  our  inde- 
pendence, let  us  conduct  ourselves  with  all  needful  forbearance. 
Let  us  observe  the  rules  they  have  laid  upon  us  so  long  as  those 
rules  do  not  violate  our  personal  liberty,  nor  our  consciences,  nor 
our  duty  to  our  country.  Let  us  not  take  bravado  for  courage, 
nor  tumult  for  bravery. 

Our  distress  has  moved  the  other  nations.  England,  Ireland, 
and    Scotland;     France,    Holland,    the   United   States,    Canada, 


:.('.  Li:s'r  \vi:  i^oiun-rr 

ha\o  vii'il  witli  o;u-li  other  in  jiciu'iosit y  Itn-  our  iclicl".  Il  is  ;i 
spoctaclo  at  ouci'  most  niouniful  and  most  iiol)li>.  Here  attain 
is  a  ivvolatioii  of  the  I'ldxidciitial  Wisdom  wliicli  draws  good 
from  evil.  In  your  naiiu\  my  Hrothrcii,  and  in  my  own,  1  offer 
to  tlio  govoriimonts  and  the  nations  (hat  have  succored  us  the 
assurance  of  our  admiration  and  our  gratitude. 


OZY.MAXDIAS 

I  MET  a  traveler  from  an  antique  hind 
Who  said  :  Two  vast  and  trunkless  legs  of  stone 
Stand  in  the  desert.  .  .  .     Near  them,  on  the  sand, 
Half  sunk,  a  shattered  visage  lies,  whose  frown, 
And  wrinkled  li]).  and  sneer  of  cold  command, 
Tell  that  its  sculptor  well  those  passions  read 
Which  3'et  survive,  stamped  on  these  lifeless  things, 
The  hand  that  mocked  them,  and  the  heart  that  fed  : 
And  on  the  pedestal  these  w^ords  appear : 
"My  name  is  Ozymandias,  king  of  kings : 
Look  on  my  works,  ye  Mighty,  and  despair!" 
Nothing  beside  remains.     Round  the  decay 
Of  that  colossal  wreck,  boundless  and  bare 
The  lone  and  level  sands  stretch  far  away. 

Percy  Bysshe  Shelley, 


AND   THE   COCK   CREW 

I  HATE  them  all!"  said  old  Gaspard, 
And  ill  his  weather-beaten  face 
The  lines  of  bitterness  grew  hard, 
For  he  had  seen  his  dwelling-place 
Laid  waste  in  very  wantonness, 
And  all  his  little  treasures  flung 
Into  that  never-sated  press 
From  which  no  wine,  but  gall,  had  sprung 
And  not  his  heart  alone  was  sore. 
For  in  his  frail  old  limbs  he  bore 
Wounds  of  the  heavy,  ruthless  hand 
That  weighed  so  cruelly  of  late 
Upon  the  people  and  the  land. 
It  was  not  hard  to  understand 
Why  old  Gaspard  should  hate 
Even  the  German  lad  who  lay 
His  neighbor  in  the  hospital, 
The  boy  who  pleaded  night  and  day : 
"Don't  let  me  die !  don't  let  me  die ! 
When  I  see  the  dawn,  I  know 
I  shall  live  out  that  day,  and  then 
I'm  not  afraid  —  till  dark  —  but  oh, 
How  soon  the  night  comes  round  again ! 
Don't  let  me  die !  don't  let  me  die  !" 

COPYRIGHT  BY  GEORGE  H.  UORAN  COMPANY 

57 


58  LEST  WE   FORGET 

Tlio  old  man  nuittored  at  each  low, 

Pitiful,  halt"  delirious  cry, 

"They  should  die,  had  I  the  say, 

In  hell's  own  torment,  one  and  all!" 

And  then  would  drag  himself  away. 

Despite  each  motion's  agonj^. 

To  where  the  wounded  poilus  lay. 

And  cheer  them  with  his  mimicry 

Of  barnyard  noises,  and  his  gay 

Old  songs  of  what  life  used  to  be. 

One  night  the  lad  suddenly  cried, 

"Mother ! "     And  though  the  sister  knew  — 

He  was  so  young,  so  terrified, 

"You're  safe  —  the  east  is  light,"  she  lied. 

But  "No !"  he  sobbed,  "the  cock  must  crow 

Before  the  dawn !"     They  did  not  hear 

A  cripple  crawl  across  the  floor. 

But  all  at  once,  outside  the  door. 

In  the  courtyard,  shrill  and  clear, 

Once,  twice  and  thrice,  chanticleer  crew. 

The  blue  eyes  closed  and  the  boy  sighed, 

"I'm  not  afraid,  now  day's  begun. 

I'll  live  —  tiU  — "     With  a  smile,  he  died. 

And  in  that  hour  w'hen  he  denied 
The  god  of  hate,  I  think  that  One 
Passed  through  the  hospital's  dim  yard 
And  turning,  looked  on  old  Gaspard. 

Amelia  Josephine  Burr. 


A  BELGIAN   LAWYER'S  APPEAL 

ONE  of  the  great  lawyers  of  Belgium  in  behalf 
of  the  members  of  the  bar  of  Brussels,  Liege, 
Ghent,  Charleroi,  Mons,  Louvain,  and  Antwerp,  ap- 
peared twice  before  the  German  Court  of  Justice  at 
Brussels  and  appealed  for  more  just  treatment  of  the 
Belgian  people.  In  his  first  appeal,  he  protested 
against  the  illegal  manner  in  which  the  Belgians  were 
accused  of  crime,  tried,  and  convicted  at  the  pleasure 
of  German  officials.  He  concluded  with  the  following 
eloquent  words : 

I  can  understand  martial  law  for  armies  in  the  field.  It  is 
the  immediate  reply  to  an  aggression  against  the  troops,  the 
quick  justice  of  the  commander  of  the  army  responsible  for  his 
soldiers.  But  our  armies  are  far  away ;  we  are  no  longer  in  the 
zone  of  military  operations.  Nothing  here  threatens  your  troops, 
the  inhabitants  are  calm. 

The  people  have  taken  up  work  again.  You  have  bidden 
them  do  it.  Each  one  attends  to  his  business  —  magistrates, 
judges,  officials  of  the  provinces  and  cities,  the  clergy,  all  are 
at  their  posts,  united  in  one  outburst  of  national  interest  and 
brotherhood. 

However,  this  does  not  mean  that  they  have  forgotten.  The 
Belgian  people  lived  happily  in  their  corner  of  the  earth,  confident 

59 


(10  LE^T    WL:    I'OKGLT 

in  tbeu"  (lro;iin  ot"  iiulcptMidciirc  'I'lu-y  saw  tliis  drcaiu  (lisjjcllcd  ; 
thoy  saw  their  couiitiy  luincd  and  devastated  ;  its  ancient  Jios- 
pital>le  soil  has  l)eeii  sown  with  tiiousands  ol"  tombs  where  our 
mvii  sleep;  the  war  has  made  tears  flow  which  no  hand  can  chy. 
No,  tlie  murdered  soul  of  Belgium  will  nev(M'  forget. 

His  second  appeal  will  be  si)oken  by  school  children 
in  Belgium,  and  perhaps  in  America,  when  the  names 
of  the  German  judges  to  whom  he  spoke  are  forgotten 
even  in  Germany. 

We  are  not  annexed.  We  are  not  conquered.  We  are  not 
even  vanquished.  Our  army  is  fighting.  Our  colors  float  along- 
side those  of  France,  England,  and  Russia.  The  country  sub- 
sists. She  is  simp]}'  unfortunate.  More  than  ever,  then,  w^e 
now  owe  ourselves  to  her,  body  and  soul.  To  defend  her  rights 
is  also  to  fight  for  her. 

We  are  living  hours  now  as  tragic  as  any  country  has  ever 
known.  All  is  destruction  and  ruin  around  us.  Everywhere  we 
see  mourning.  Our  army  has  lost  half  of  its  eff(H'tive  forces. 
Its  percentage  in  dead  and  woimded  will  never  be  reached  })y 
any  of  the  belligerents.  There  remains  to  us  only  a  corner  of 
ground  over  there  by  the  sea.  The  waters  of  the  Yser  flow  through 
an  immense  plain  peopled  by  the  dead.  It  is  called  the  Belgian 
Cemetery'.  There  sleep  our  children  by  the  thousands.  There 
they  are  sleeping  their  last  sleep.  The  struggle  goes  on  bitterly 
and  without  mercy. 

Your  sons,  Mr.  President,  are  at  the  front ;  mine  as  well. 
For  months  we  have  been  living  in  anxiety  regarding  the  morrow. 

Why  these  sacrifices,  why  this  sorrow?  Belgium  could  have 
avoided  these  disasters,  saved  her  existence,  her  treasures,  and 
the  lives  of  her  children,  but  she  preferred  her  honor. 


EDITH   CAVELL 

AMERICANS  are  particularly  interested  in  the 
story  of  Edith  Cavell,  because  the  American  min- 
ister in  Brussels  on  behalf  of  the  American  people 
asked  German  officials  to  spare  her  life,  or  at  least  to 
postpone  her  execution,  until  he  might  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  see  that  she  was  properly  defended.  Ger- 
many's disregard  of  America  and  the  wishes  of  the 
American  people  was  clearly  shown  by  the  scornful 
manner  in  which  Germany  set  aside  as  of  no  impor- 
tance American  protests  and  requests.  Her  action 
in  this  case  was  similar  to  her  action  earlier  in  regard 
to  the  Lusitania,  involving  in  both  cases  direct  false- 
hoods by  representatives  of  the  German  government. 

Germans  wondered  that  the  shooting  of  an  English 
woman  for  treason  should  cause  a  sensation,  just  as 
they  wondered  why  even  their  enemies  did  not  ap- 
])laud  them  for  murdering  more  than  a  thousand 
non-combatants  on  the  Lusitania.  They  did  not 
realize  that  both  of  these  crimes  would  add  thousands 
of  volunteers  to  the  armies  fighting  against  them,  and 
that  they  would  always  be  recorded  in  history  as 
among  the  most  despicable  deeds  of  a  civilized  nation. 

61 


02  LKST   W  !•:   FORGET 

Some  one  has  said,  "Attila  and  his  Huns  were  ignorant 
l)arbarians,  but  the  modern  Huns  know  better  and 
therefore  they  are  more  to  be  condemned." 

Edith  Cavell  was  so  brave,  so  frank,  so  honest  that  it 
would  stH'in  tliat  even  to  the  Germans  her  virtues  would 

plead  like  angels,  trumpet-tongiied,  against 
The  deep  damnation  of  her  taking-off. 

But  not  so,  for  German  education  and  training  have 
evident l}'^  made  the  German  people  look  upon  almost 
everything  in  a  way  different  from  that  of  Americans, 
Englishmen,  and  Frenchmen.  And  yet  the  common 
German  people  do  at  times  show  that  they  have  a 
feeling  of  admiration,  if  not  of  affection,  for  peoples 
of  other  nations ;  for  we  are  told  of  a  German  city 
erecting  a  statue  to  the  French  and  English  soldiers 
who  died  as  captives  in  the  German  prison  located 
there,  with  the  inscription.  To  our  Comrades ,  who  here 
died  for  their  Fatherland. 

But  we  must  remember  that  there  are  many  king- 
doms in  Germany  and  cruel  Prussia  rules  them  all. 
It  was  Prussian  savagery  and  barbarity  that  approved 
the  massacre  by  the  Turks  of  almost  an  entire  people, 
the  Armenians,  and  it  was  done  under  the  e3^es  of 
German  officers.  The  same  is  true  of  the  wholesale 
slaughter  of  non-combatant  Serbian  men,  women,  and 
children  by  the  Bulgarians.  A  word  from  Germany 
would  have  stopped  it  all. 


EDITH  CAVELL  63 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Edith  Cavell  was  living 
in  England  with  her  aged  mother.  She  felt  her  duty 
was  in  Belgium  and  she  went  to  Brussels  and  estab- 
lished a  private  hospital.  An  American  woman,  Mary 
Boyle  O'Reilly  of  Boston,  a  daughter  of  the  poet, 
John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  worked  with  her  for  a  time. 
When  Miss  O'Reilly  was  expelled  from  Belgium,  she 
begged  Miss  Cavell  to  leave  that  land  of  horror,  but 
Miss  Cavell  only  said,  "My  duty  is  here." 

She  and  her  nurses  cared  for  many  a  wounded 
German  soldier  and  this  alone  should  have  insured 
her  fair  treatment,  if  not  gratitude,  from  Germany. 

She  was  arrested,  kept  in  solitary  confinement  for 
ten  weeks  without  any  charge  being  made  against 
her;  then  was  tried  secretly  for  having  sheltered 
French  and  Belgian  soldiers  who  were  seeking  to  es- 
cape to  Holland. 

It  is  probably  true  that  Miss  Cavell  did  this,  but 
the  history  of  war  in  modern  times  records  no  case 
where  any  one  has  been  put  to  death  for  giving  shelter 
for  a  short  time  to  a  fugitive  soldier.  Such  an  act 
does  not,  according  to  the  custom  of  civilized  coun- 
tries, make  one  a  spy,  nor  is  it  treason. 

Those  who  have  investigated  the  case  carefully 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Germans  de- 
cided to  make  a  terrible  example  of  some  of  the  women 
in  Brussels  who  were  sympathizing  with  and  perhaps 
helping   French    and    Belgian    soldiers    to    escape    to 


(U  LEST    Wi;    lOIUlET 

llollaiul,  t'oi-  ;il)oul  the  same  tinu'  twenty-two  otlu^r 
wonuMi  wcMc  ani^stcd  on  the  same  charge  as  that 
tinall>'  made  aiiainst   iMlith  Cax'ell. 

When  Bland  Wliitlock,  the  American  minister, 
learned  from  an  outsider  (he  could  get  no  informa- 
tion from  the  German  officials)  that  Edith  Cavell 
had  been  condemned,  lie  sent  the  following  letters, 
one  a  personal  one,  the  other  an  official  one,  to  the  Ger- 
man commandant: 

Personal : 

My  dear  Baron  : 

I  am  too  ill  to  put  my  request  before  you  in  person,  but  once 
more  I  appeal  to  the  generosit}-  of  3'our  heart.     Stand  by  and 
save  from  death  this  unfortunate  woman.     Have  pity  on  her. 
Your  devoted  friend, 

Brand  Whitlock. 

Official : 

I  have  just  heard  that  Miss  Cavell,  :i  liritisli  sul)j('ct,  and 
consequently  under  the  protection  of  ni}'  Legation,  was  this 
morning  condemned  to  death  l)y  court-martial. 

If  m}'  information  is  correct,  the  sentence  in  the  pr(\sent  case 
is  more  severe  than  all  the  others  that  have  been  passed  in  similar 
cases  which  have  been  tried  l)y  the  same  Court,  and,  without 
going  into  the  reasons  for  such  a  drastic  sentence,  I  feel  that  I 
have  the  right  to  appeal  to  your  Excellency's  feelings  of  humanity 
and  generosity  in  Miss  Cavell's  favoi",  and  to  ask  that  the  death 
penalt}^  passed  on  ^liss  Cavell  may  be  commuted  and  that  this 
unfortunate  woman  shall  not  be  executed. 

Miss  Cavell  is  the  head  oi  the  Brussels  Surgical  Listitute. 
She  has  spent  her  life  in  alleviating  the  suffei'ings  of  others,  and 


EDITH   CAVELL  65 

her  school  has  turned  out  niauy  nurses  who  have  watched  at 
the  bedside  of  the  sick  all  the  world  over,  in  Germany  as  in  Belgium. 
At  the.  beginning  of  the  war  Miss  Cavell  bestowed  her  care  as 
freely  on  the  German  soldiers  as  on  others.  Even  in  default  of 
all  other  reasons,  her  career  as  a  servant  of  humanity  is  such  as 
to  inspire  the  greatest  sympathy  and  to  call  for  pardon.  If  the 
information  in  my  possession  is  correct,  Miss  Cavell,  far  from 
shielding  herself,  has,  with  commendable  straightforwardness, 
admitted  the  truth  of  all  the  charges  against  her,  and  it  is  the 
very  information  which  she  herself  has  furnished,  which  has 
aggravated  the  severity  of  the  sentence  passed  on  her. 

It  is  then  with  confidence,  and  in  the  hope  of  its  favorable  re- 
ception, that  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  your  Excellency  my 
request  for  pardon  on  Miss  Cavell 's  behalf. 

Brand  Whitlock. 

But  no  real  attention  was  paid  to  the  American 
notes.  Edith  Cavell  was  sentenced  at  five  o'clock  on 
the  afternoon  of  October  11,  and  was  put  to  death 
that  same  night. 

Permission  was  refused  to  take  her  body  for  burial 
outside  the  prison.  It  is  doubtless  still  buried  in  the 
prison  yard  unless  the  Germans  have  removed  it  for 
fear  a  monument  may  be  erected  above  it.  The 
English  are  to  erect  a  monument  in  her  honor  in 
London.  Dr.  James  M.  Beck,  in  writing  about  her 
case,  says  of  her  burial  in  the  prison  yard,  ''One  can 
say  of  that  burial  place,  as  Byron  said  of  the  prison 
cell  of  Chillon  :  'Let  none  these  marks  efface,  for  they 
appeal  from  tyranny  to  God.'" 


SON 

H 


E  hurried  away,  young  heart  of  jo}',  under  our  Devon  sky ! 
And  I  watched  hhn  go,  my  beautiful  boy,  and  a  weary 
woman  was  I. 
For  my  hair  is  gray,  and  his  was  gold  ;   he'd  the  best  of  his  life  to 

live ; 
And  I'd  loved  him  so,  and  I'm  old,  I'm  old ;  and  he's  all  I  had  to 
give. 

Ah,  yes,  he  was  proud  and  swift  and  gay,  but  oh,  how  my  eyes  were 

dim! 
With  the  sun  in  his  heart  he  went  away,  but  he  took  the  sun  with 

him. 
For  look !     How  the  leaves  are  falling  now,  and  the  winter  w'on't 

be  long.  .  .  . 
Oh,  bo}',  my  boj'  with  the  sunny  brow,  and  the  lips  of  love  and  of 

song! 

How  we  used  to  sit  at  the  day's  sweet  end,  we  two  by  the  fire- 
light's gleam, 

And  we'd  drift  to  the  Valley  of  Let's  Pretend,  on  the  beautiful 
River  of  Dream. 

Oh,  dear  little  heart !    All  wealth  untold  would  I  gladly,  gladly  pay 

Could  I  just  for  a  moment  closely  hold  that  golden  head  to  my 
gray. 

COPYRIGHT  BY    BARSE   AND   HOPKINS. 

66 


SON  67 

For  I  gaze  in  the  fire,  and  I'm  seeing  there  a  child,  and  he  waves 

to  me; 
And  I  run  and  I  hold  him  up  in  the  air,  and  he  laughs  and  shouts 

with  glee ; 
A  little  bundle  of  love  and  mirth,  crying  :  "Come,  Mumsie  dear !" 
Ah,  me  !     If  he  called  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  I  know  that  my 

heart  would  hear. 


Yet  the  thought  comes  thrilling  through  all  my  pain  :  how  worthier 

could  he  die  ? 
Yea,  a  loss  like  that  is  a  glorious  gain,  and  pitiful  proud  am  I, 
For  Peace  must  be  bought  with  blood  and  tears,  and  the  boys  of 

our  hearts  must  pay ; 
And  so  in  our  joy  of  the  after-years,  let  us  bless  them  every  day. 

And  though  I  know  there's  a  hasty  grave  with  a  poor  little  cross  at 

its  head, 
And  the  gold  of  his  youth  he  so  gladly  gave,  yet  to  me  he'll  never 

be  dead. 
And  the  sun  in  my  Devon  lane  will  be  gay,  and  my  boy  will  be 

with  me  still, 

So  I'm  finding  the  heart  to  smile  and  say  :   "Oh  God,  if  it  be  Thy 

Will!" 

Robert  W.  Service. 


THE   CASK    OF    SERBIA 

BUT  Belgiuiii  is  not  the  only  little  nation  that 
has  been  attacked  in  this  war,  and  I  make  no 
i'xeuse  for  referring  to  the  case  of  the  other  little 
nation  —  the  case  of  Serbia.  The  history  of  Serbia 
is  not  unb lotted.  WHiat  histor}-  in  the  list  of  nations 
is  unblotted?  The  first  nation  that  is  without  sin, 
let  her  cast  a  stone  at  Serbia  —  a  nation  trained  in  a 
horrible  school.  But  she  won  her  freedom  with  her 
tenacious  valor,  and  she  has  maintained  it  by  the 
same  courage.  If  any  Serbians  were  mixed  up  in 
the  assassination  of  the  Grand  Duke,  the\'  ought  to 
be  punished.  Serbia  admits  that.  The  Serbian  Gov- 
ernment had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Not  even  Austria 
claimed  that.  The  Serbian  Prime  Minister  is  one  of 
the  most  capable  and  honored  men  in  Europe.  Serbia 
was  willing  to  punish  any  one  of  her  subjects  who  had 
been  proved  to  have  an}'  complicit}'  in  that  assassina- 
tion.    "\Miat  more  could  you  expect? 

What  were  the  Austrian  demands?  Serbia  sympa- 
thized with  her  fellow-count rjTiien  in  Bosnia.  That 
was  one  of  her  crimes.  She  must  do  so  no  more. 
Her  newspapers  were  saying  nasty  things  about  Austria. 
They  must  do  so  no  longer.  That  is  the  Austrian 
spirit.     How  dare  you   criticize   a  Prussian   official? 

68 


THE   CASE   OF   SERBIA  69 

And  if  you  laugh,  it  is  a  capital  offense.  Serbian 
newspapers  must  not  criticize  Austria.  I  wonder 
w^iat  would  have  happened  had  we  taken  up  the 
same  line  about  German  newspapers.  Serbia  said : 
'^Very  well,  we  will  give  orders  to  the  newspapers 
that  they  must  not  criticize  Austria  in  future,  neither 
Austria,  nor  Hungary,  nor  anything  that  is  theirs." 
She  promised  not  to  sympathize  with  Bosnia  ;  promised 
to  write  no  critical  articles  about  Austria.  She  would 
hold  no  public  meetings  at  which  anything  unkind  was 
said  about  Austria.  That  was  not  enough.  She  must 
dismiss  from  her  army  officers  whom  Austria  should 
subsequently  name.  But  these  officers  had  just 
emerged  from  a  war  where  they  were  adding  luster 
to  the  Serbian  arms  —  gallant,  brave,  efficient.  I 
wonder  w^iether  it  was  their  guilt  or  their  efficiency 
that  prompted  Austria's  action.  Serbia  was  to  under- 
take in  advance  to  dismiss  them  from  the  army  — 
the  names  to  be  sent  in  subsequently.  Can  you 
name  a  country  in  the  world  that  would  have  stood 
that?  Supposing  Austria  or  Germany  had  issued 
an  ultimatum  of  that  kind  to  this  country.  "You 
must  dismiss  from  your  army  and  from  your  navy 
all  those  officers  whom  we  shall  subsequently  name.'" 
Well,  I  think  I  could  name  them  now.  Lord  Kitchener 
would  go.  Sir  John  French  would  be  sent  about  his 
business.  General  Smith-Dorrien  would  be  no  more, 
and  I  am  sure  that  Sir  John  Jellicoe  would  go.     And 


70  LlXr    \\l]    VOUGET 

tliore  is  another  gallant  old  warrior  wlio  would  go  — 
Lord  Robert. s. 

It  was  a  difficult  situation  for  a  small  country. 
Here  was  a  demand  made  upon  lu>r  by  a  great  military 
l)ower  who  could  i)ut  five  or  six  men  in  the  field  for 
every  one  she  could  ;  and  that  power  supjoorted  by 
the  greatest  military  power  in  the  world.  Ho\v  did 
Serbia  behave?  It  is  not  what  happens  to  3'ou  in 
life  that  matters ;  it  is  the  w^ay  in  which  you  face  it. 
And  Serbia  faced  the  situation  witli  dignity.  She 
said  to  Austria:  ''If  any  officers  of  mine  have  been 
guilty  and  are  proved  to  be  guilty,  I  will  dismiss 
them."  Austria  said,  ''That  is  not  good  enough  for 
me."     It  was  not  guilt  she  was  after,  but  capacit3\ 

Then  came  Russia's  turn.  Russia  has  a  special 
regard  for  Serbia.  She  has  a  special  interest  in  Serbia. 
Russians  have  shed  their  blood  for  Serbian  independ- 
ence man}'  a  time.  Serbia  is  a  member  of  her  family, 
and  she  cannot  see  Serbia  maltreated.  Austria  knew 
that.  German}^  knew  that,  and  Germany  turned 
around  to  Russia  and  said:  "I  insist  that  you  shall 
stand  by  with  your  arms  folded  whilst  Austria  is 
strangling  3'our  little  brother  to  death."  What  answ^er 
did  the  Russian  Slav  give?  He  gave  the  only  answer 
that  becomes  a  man.  He  turned  to  Austria  and 
said:  "You  lay  hands  on  that  little  fellow  and  I  wdll 
tear  3'our  ramshackle  empire  limb  from  limb." 

David  Lloyd  George,  1914. 


THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   FRYATT 

CAPTAIN  CHARLES  FRYATT  was  in  com- 
mand of  a  British  steamship  named  Brussels. 
running  from  Tilbury,  England,  to  the  Hook  of  Hol- 
land. His  ship  was  hailed  in  1915  by  a  German 
submarine  and  ordered  to  stop. 

A  torpedo  costs  several  thousand  dollars,  there- 
fore a  submarine  saves  one  whenever  she  can  sink 
a  ship  by  some  other  means.  Also  a  submarine  can 
carry  but  few  torpedoes,  so  by  saving  them  she  can 
remain  longer  at  sea  and  at  her  work  of  destruction. 

Captain  Fryatt  was  well  aware  that  if  he  came  to 
a  stop,  the  Germans  would  board  his  ship  and  sink 
her  by  bombs,  or  would  order  the  passengers  off  and 
sink  her  by  shells  from  the  guns.  This  is  the  way 
they  sank  the  Carolina  off  the  coast  of  New  Jersey, 
leaving  the  passengers  in  open  boats  —  many  of 
whom  died  from  exposure  and  by  the  capsizing  of 
one  boat  in  the  tempest  which  struck  them  at  mid- 
night. 

Captain  Fryatt  knew  that  by  the  laws  of  nations 
he  had  the  right  to  defend  his  ship,  so  instead  of  stop- 
ping as  the  Germans  ordered  him  to  do,  he  put  on 
full  speed  and  turned  the  head  of  his  ship  towards 

71 


72  LEST    \\i:    FOKCCT 

the  subinarine.  hoping  to  ram  her  and  sink  her.  lie 
was  obeying  instruetions  from  his  government,  and 
was  doing  nothing  but  what  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  do  aeeorcUng  to  international  law. 

He  did  not  succeed,  but  he  gained  time  and  forced 
the  submarine  to  submerge,  for  British  destroyers 
were  coming  up  in  answer  to  his  wireless  call. 

For  his  bravery,  the  British  Government  rewarded 
him  by  giving  him  a  gold  watch  and  naming  him 
with  praise  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

More  than  a  year  later,  on  June  23,  1916,  German 
warships  out  on  a  raid  captured  the  Brussels,  which 
Captain  Fryatt  still  commanded.  He  was  taken  to 
Bruges,  Belgium,  and  put  on  trial  for  his  life.  The 
Germans  claimed  his  case  was  like  that  of  a  non- 
combatant  on  land  who  fired  upon  the  soldiers.  They 
found  him  guilty  on  June  27  and  sentenced  him  to  be 
shot,  for  having  attempted  to  sink  the  submarine, 
U-33,  b}^  ramming  it.  They  laid  much  emphasis  on 
the  fact  that  the  British  Government  had  rewarded 
him,  although  this  really  had  nothing  to  do  with 
whether  or  not  he  had  a  right  to  defend  his  ship. 

The  United  States  was  not  then  at  war  with  Ger- 
many, and  the  diplomatic  affairs  of  England  were  in 
charge  of  the  United  States  Ambassador  in  Berlin. 
When  Ambassador  Gerard  learned  that  Captain  Fryatt 
had  been  captured  and  taken  to  Bruges  for  trial,  he 
sent  two  notes  to  the  proper  German  officials,  demand- 


THE  MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN   FRYATT  73 

ing  the  right  to  visit  Captain  Fryatt  and  to  secure 
counsel  for  him. 

The  trerman  officials  acknowledged  his  notes  and 
assured  him  that  they  would  take  the  necessary  steps 
to  meet  his  request. 

But  the  morning  of  the  day  after  Ambassador 
Gerard  sent  his  notes,  Captain  Fryatt  was  tried  and 
sentenced,  and  was  shot  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day.  As  in  the  case  of  Edith  Cavell,  Germany's 
answer  to  America  was  a  lie,  and  a  scornful  carrying 
out  of  her  illegal  purpose  before  the  American  Am- 
bassador could  do  anything  more.  She  acted  in 
exactly  the  same  way  in  connection  with  the  Lusi- 
tania,  and  with  all  her  submarine  warfare,  or  piracy, 
as  it  really  is  according  to  international  law. 

One  of  the  leading  German  writers  on  international 
law  says,  ''The  merchant  ship  has  the  right  of  self- 
defense  against  an  enemy  attack,  and  this  right  it 
can  exercise  against  visit,  for  this  is  indeed  the  first 
act  of  capture." 

Germany  knew  she  had  no  right  to  shoot  Captain 
Fryatt,  and  she  did  not  want  her  right  challenged  at 
his  trial ;  so  she  did  not  allow  the  American  Ambassador 
to  see  him  and  to  secure  counsel  for  him. 

She  desired  to  make  him  an  example  of  German 
''frightfulncss"  as  she  had  in  the  case  of  Edith  CavcU 
and  of  the  Lusitania.  She  thought  this  would  prevent 
other  British  vessels  trying  to  ram  her  submarines. 


71  LKST    WK    FORGET 

Tlio  wliolc  \v(irl(l  is  wondering  if  Germany  would 
cower  under  "  fri,i2;litfulness,"  and  therefore  believes 
other  p(H)j)les  will.  Him-  policy  certainly  has  never 
had  {\\v  (>fTe('t  that  she  hoped  it  would.  It  has 
sinij)ly  made  her  enemies  fight  all  the  harder  and 
dare  all  the  more,  because  they  remember  her  in- 
human acts  and  unlawful  deeds. 

The  Germans  published  the  following  notice  of  the 
trial  and  execution  : 

On  Thursday  at  Bruges  before  the  Court  Martial  of  the  Marine 
Corps,  the  trial  took  place  of  Captain  Fryatt,  of  the  British 
steamer  Brussels,  which  was  brought  in  as  a  prize.  The  accused 
was  condemned  to  death  because,  although  he  was  not  a  member 
of  a  combatant  force,  he  made  an  attempt,  on  the  afternoon  of 
March  28,  1915,  to  ram  the  German  submarine,  U-33,  near  the 
Maas  Lightship. 

The  accused  received  at  the  time  from  the  British  Admiralty 
a  gold  watch  as  a  reward  for  his  V:)i-ave  conduct  on  that  occasion, 
and  his  action  was  mentioned  with  praise  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. 

On  the  occasion  in  question,  disregarding  the  U-boat's  signal 
to  stop  and  show  his  national  flag,  he  turned  at  a  critical  moment 
at  high  speed  against  the  submarine,  which  escaped  the  steamer 
by  a  few  metres  only  because  of  swiftly  diving.  He  confessed 
that  in  so  doing  he  had  acted  in  accordance  with  the  instructions 
of  the  Admiralty.  The  sentence  was  confirmed  yesterday  after- 
noon and  carried  out  by  shooting. 

This  is  one  of  the  many  nefarious  franc-tireur  proceedings  of 
the  British  merchant  marine  against  our  war  vessels,  and  it  has 
found  a  belated  but  merited  expiation. 


THE  MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN   FRYATT  75 

The  civilized  nations  of  the  world,  in  which  we 
do  not  include  Germany  and  her  allies,  have  agreed 
that  the  execution  of  Captain  Fryatt  was  a  murder. 
Possibly  the  Germans  also  know  it,  but  defend  it  as 
they  did  the  invasion  of  Belgium,  as  ''necessary"  to 
German  victory. 

History  will  forever  record  it  as  an  example  of  the 
black  deeds  done  by  desperate  men  who  care  only 
to  accomplish  their  selfish  ends,  and  will  explain  how 
these  evil  deeds  of  horror  and  of  terror  have  injured 
those  who  committed  them  more  than  those  who 
suffered  from  them. 

On  the  very  day  of  the  execution  of  Captain 
Fryatt,  the  British  passenger  liner  Falaba  was  tor- 
pedoed and  sunk  without  warning.  She  sank  in  eight 
minutes  carrying  with  her  one  hundred  and  four  men, 
women,  and  children,  who  were  ''not  members  of  a 
combatant  force. " 


RUPERT    BROOKE 

AMONG  the  losses  that  the  World  War  has  caused 
—  many  of  them  losses  that  can  never  be  made 
good  —  is  that  of  the  promising  young  English  poet, 
Rupert  Brooke. 

He  was  a  fine  tjqoe  in  mind  and  body.  His  father 
was  a  teacher  in  the  great  English  school  at  Rugby, 
and  here  the  boy  learned  to  write,  and  to  play  cricket, 
tennis,  and  football.  He  was  interested  in  every 
form  of  athletics  and  was  strong  and  skillful  at  all. 
He  was  a  great  walker  and  a  fine  diver  and  swimmer. 
He  was  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  handsomest 
Englishmen  of  his  day,  tall,  broad,  easy,  and  graceful 
in  his  movements,  with  steady  blue  eyes,  and  a  wavy 
mass  of  fair  hair. 

He  had  traveled  much  in  France,  Germany,  Italy, 
the  United  States,  Canada,  and  the  South  Seas,  where 
he  visited  Stevenson's  home  in  Samoa.  Of  all  lands, 
however,  he  loved  England  best. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Brooke  said,  "  Well,  if 
Armageddon's  on,  I  suppose  I  should  be  there."  He 
enlisted,  was  commissioned  as  lieutenant,  and  was 
sent  almost  immediately  with  the  English  forces  to 

BASED  ON  "  THE  COLLECTED  POEMS  OF  RUPERT  BROOKE,"  COPYRIGHT  BY 
JOHN  L.4.NE  COMPANY. 

76 


RUPERT  BROOKE  77 

relieve  Antwerp,  at  that  time  besieged  by  the  Ger- 
mans. This  experience,  lying  day  after  day  in  trenches 
under  German  fire,  followed  by  the  terrible  retreat  by 
night  with  the  thousands  of  Belgians  who  had  lost 
everything  except  their  lives,  changed  the  careless, 
happy  youth  into  a  man.  He  was  but  twenty-seven 
years  old  when  he  enlisted.  He  wrote  but  little 
poetry  after  his  enlistment,  but  it  is  all  of  a  finer, 
more  spiritual  quality  than  any  of  his  previous  work. 

He  spent  the  following  winter  training  in  England, 
and  then  joined  the  British  Expeditionary  Forces  for 
the  Dardanelles.  He  never  reached  there,  however, 
for  he  died  at  Scyros  on  April  23,  1915,  and  was  buried 
by  torchlight  at  night,  in  an  olive  grove  on  the  island. 
One  of  his  friends,  Wilfred  Gibson,  has  paid  a  beau- 
tiful tribute  to  him  in  a  short  poem  entitled  ''The 
Going."  It  is  a  tribute  that  might  well  be  offered 
to  any  of  the  thousands  of  young  heroes  from  many 
lands  who  have  gone  with  a  sudden  glory  in  their 
young  eyes  to  give  all,  that  human  liberty  should  not 
be  lost. 

He's  gone. 

I  do  not  understand. 

I  only  know 

That,  as  he  turned  to  go, 

And  waved  his  hand, 

In  his  young  eyes  a  sudden  glory  shone, 

And  I  was  dazzled  by  a  sunset  glow  — 

And  he  was  gone 


7S  T.RST    W  !•:    FOHCKT 

Dontli  ai>|)oar(Hl  ti)  bv  in  his  mind  constantly  aftor 
liis  ttMTii)l(^  oxporionce  at  AntAverp,  hut  lie  seems 
ncn-cM'  to  liavc^  feared  it.  It  is  really  the  subject  of 
all  of  his  five  sonnets  written  in  1914,  and  these  are 
tlu>  In^st  of  his  work.  He  thought  constantly  of  Eng- 
land and  of  all  that  she  had  done  for  him  and  meant 
to  him.  He  thought  also  of  the  little  meaningful 
things  of  life,  and  put  them  into  these  sonnets  — 
dawn,  sunset,  the  beautiful  colors  of  the  earth,  music, 
flowers,  the  feel  of  furs,  and  the  touch  of  a  cheek. 
Strange  that  he  should  have  thought  of  the  touching 
of  fur.  It  probably  gave  him  a  strange  sensation  as 
it  does  to  many.  And  then  he  thought  of  water  and 
its  movement  in  the  wind,  and  its  w^armth  under  the 
sun,  which  .seemed  to  him  like  life,  just  as  its  freezing 
under  the  frost  seemed  to  him  like  death.  All  of  this 
and  more  he  put  into  a  beautiful  sonnet  entitled  ''The 
Dead." 

These  hearts  were  woven  of  human  joys  and  cares, 

Washed  marvellously  with  sorrow,  swift  to  mirth. 
The  years  had  given  them  kinchiess.     Dawn  was  theirs, 

And  sunset,  and  the  colors  of  the  earth. 
These  had  seen  movement,  and  heard  music  ;  known 

Slumber  and  waking ;  loved  ;  gone  proudly  friended  ; 
Felt  the  quick  stir  of  wonder ;  sat  alone ; 

Touched  flowers  and  furs  and  cheeks.     All  this  is  ended. 

There  are  waters  blown  by  changing  winds  to  laughter 
And  lit  by  the  rich  skies,  all  day.     And  after, 


RUPERI'  BROOKE  79 

Frost,  with  a  gesture,  stays  the  waves  that  dance 
And  wandering  lovehness.     He  leaves  a  white 

Unbroken  glory,  a  gathered  radiance, 
A  width,  a  shining  peace,  under  the  night. 

Note  how  significant  is  every  human  experience 
which  he  mentions  from  ''the  quick  stir  of  wonder" 
which  the  youth  feels,  to  the  kindness  which  comes 
with  years.  ''They  had  seen  movement"  is  strange, 
and  yet  many  like  Rupert  Brooke  are  fascinated  with 
movement  and  see  life  chiefly  in  motion,  —  in  smiles 
and  steps. 

His  finest  poem,  however,  is  the  last  of  the  five 
sonnets  and  is  entitled  "The  Soldier."  Here  he  pours 
out  his  heart  in  love  of  England  and  in  the  pride  that 
he  feels  in  being  an  Englishman.  Read  France  or 
America  or  some  other  worthy  homeland  in  place  of 
England  and  it  will  appeal  to  other  hearts  beside 
Englishmen.  It  is  a  beautiful  poem,  one  that  will 
live  forever. 

If  I  should  die,  think  only  this  of  me : 

That  there's  some  corner  of  a  foreign  field     ■ 
That  is  forever  England.     There  shall  be 

In  that  rich  earth  a  richer  dust  concealed  ; 
A  dust  whom  England  bore,  shaped,  made  aware, 

Gave,  once,  her  flowers  to  love,  her  ways  to  roam, 
A  body  of  England's,  breathing  English  air, 

Washed  by  the  rivers,  blest  by  suns  of  home. 

And  think,  this  heart,  all  evil  shed  away, 
A  pulse  in  the  eternal  mind,  no  less 


80  Li:sr    Wi:    I\)RGET 

Gives  soinowhero  back  the  thoughts  by  Enghmd  given  ; 
Her  sights  and  sounds  ;  dreams  happy  as  her  day  ; 
And  laugliter,  loariil  of  friends;   and  gentleness, 
In  hearts  at  peaee,  under  an  EngUsh  heaven. 

One  of  our  American  poets,  George  Edward  Wood- 
bcrr}' ,  has  beautifully  said  : 

There  is  a  grave  in  Scyros,  amid  the  white  and  pinkish  marble 
of  the  isle,  the  wild  thyme  and  the  poppies,  near  the  green  and 
blue  waters.  There  Rupert  Brooke  was  buried.  Thither  have 
gone  the  thoughts  of  his  countrymen,  and  the  hearts  of  the  young 
especially.  It  will  long  be  so.  For  a  new  star  shines  in  the 
English  heavens. 


Ever  the  faith  endures, 

England,  my  England  — 
"  Take  us  and  break  us :  we  are  yours, 

England,  my  own! 
Life  is  good,  and  joy  runs  high 
Between  English  earth  and  sky : 
Death  is  death  ;  but  we  shall  die 
To  the  song  on  your  bugles  blown, 

England  — 
To  the  stars  on  your  bugles  blown." 

W.  E.  Henley. 


''LET  US   SAVE   THE   KIDDIES" 

AT  12:20  noon,  on  Saturday,  May  1,  1915,  there 
steamed  out  of  New  York  harbor  one  of  the 
largest  and  fastest  passenger  ships  in  the  world.  It 
was  the  Lusitania,  flying  the  British  flag,  and  bound 
for  Europe,  via  Liverpool.  On  board  were  nearly 
two  thousand  men,  women,  and  children.  They  were 
not  overcrowded,  however,  for  the  Lusitania  was  the 
finest,  the  most  comfortable  of  ocean  boats.  It  was 
more  than  an  eighth  of  a  mile  in  length,  88  feet  in 
width,  and  60  feet  in  depth,  and  had  a  speed  of  nearly 
30  miles  an  hour. 

Her  passengers,  once  out  from  shore,  settled  down 
to  seven  days  of  life  in  this  immense,  floating  hotel. 
Tiny  babies  toddled  across  the  smooth,  shining  floors 
of  the  new  home,  or  watched  with  gurgles  of  delight 
the  older  children  rollicking  and  romping  over  the 
decks.  The  women  chatted  and  sang,  and  played 
all  sorts  of  games.  The  men,  too,  engaged  in  many 
contests,  athletic  stunts,  and  games.  At  night,  w^hen 
the  little  ones  were  quietly  sleeping  in  their  bunks, 
their  elders  gathered  in  the  grand  saloon  and  there 
listened  to  some  fine  singer,  a  famous  violinist,  or  a 
great  lecturer. 

81 


82 


"LET   US  SAVE  THE  KIDDIES"  83 

So  the  days  passed,  the  people  Hving  as  one  great 
family.  New  friendships  grew,  and  many  delightful 
acquaintances  were  formed.  The  complete  harmony 
and  restfulness  of  such  a  life,  the  clear  skies  and  sun- 
shine, and  the  vast  expanse  of  blue-green  ocean,  all 
made  them  forget  that  they  were  riding  into  a  region 
of  horror  and  war. 

For  nearly  ten  months  Belgium,  England,  France, 
and  Russia  had  been  waging  war  against  Germany. 
Around  England's  coasts  lurked  the  horrors  of  the 
German  submarine.  The  travelers  on  the  morning 
of  sailing  had  read  the  warning  against  crossing.  It 
has  since  been  called  the  ''Death  Notice."     It  read  : 

NOTICE 

Travelers  intending  to  embark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage  are  re- 
minded that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  Germany  and  her 
allies  and  Great  Britain  and  her  allies ;  that  the  zone  of  war  in- 
cludes the  waters  adjacent  to  the  British  Isles ;  that  in  accordance 
with  formal  notice  given  by  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
vessels  flying  the  flag  of  Great  Britain  or  any  of  her  allies,  are 
liable  to  destruction  in  those  waters;  and  that  travelers  sailing 
in  the  war  zone  on  ships  of  Great  Britain  or  her  allies  do  so  at 
their  own  risk. 

Imperial  German  Embassy. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1915. 

It  had  been  printed  in  the  newspapers  beside  the 
advertisement  of  the  sailing  of  the  Lusitania,  and  was 
posted   that  very  morning  by  order   of  Count    von 


84  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Bornstorff.  Gorman  ambassador  to  the  United  States. 
But  most  of  the  travelers  paid  no  attention  to  the 
notice  after  reading  it,  for  they  were  sure  that  no 
implement  of  war  would  be  turned  against  a  passenger 
ship.  \\'ith  stout  hearts,  many  of  the  travelers  said, 
"We  are  Americans.  No  country  will  refuse  respect 
and  protection  for  an  American  citizen  in  any  part 
of  the  world."  Or  they  said,  ''We  are  British  citizens, 
—  not  soldiers.  We  are  on  a  merchant  vessel — not 
a  battleship.  Surely  our  rights  will  be  respected.  We 
cross  under  necessity." 

So  they  dared  to  exercise  their  freedom  and  their 
rights  when  they  boarded  the  steamer  for  this  return 
trip. 

After  sailing  for  five  days  in  safet}^  they  came  at 
last  within  sight  of  land.  Early  on  Friday  morning 
a  heavy  fog  had  lowered,  but  the  ship  continued  to 
plow  steadily  through  the  tranquil  waters.  Toward 
noon  the  fog  lifted  and  the  sunshine  and  blue  sky 
came  to  view,  contributing  to  the  full  enjoyment  of 
the  travelers. 

They  had  just  finished  luncheon.  Some  were  quietly 
writing  letters  —  others  playing  games.  Many  had 
strolled  to  the  upper  decks.  They  greeted  their  new 
acquaintances,  regretting  that  they  were  so  soon  to 
part,  for  they  were  now  but  ten  or  fifteen  miles  out 
from  shore  off  "Old  Head  of  Kinsale,"  and  within  a 
few  hours  all  would  land,  going  on  their  separate  ways 


"LET  US  SAVE  THE  KIDDIES"  85 

for  the  rest  of  the  journey.  Though  they  were  Hear- 
ing a  world  at  war,  all  seemed  peaceful. 

The  ship's  clock  pointed  at  two,  when  a  few  men 
standing  on  deck  saw  what  looked  like  a  whale  rising 
from  the  water  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  away. 
They  saw  it  speeding  toward  them,  and  suddenly 
they  knew  what  it  was ;  but  no  one  named  it,  until 
with  a  train  of  bubbles  it  disappeared  under  the  ship, 
and  they  cried,  ^^It's  a  torpedo!" 

With  a  fearful  explosion,  the  center  of  the  ship  was 
blown  up  through  the  decks,  making  a  great  heap  of 
wreckage.  The  passengers  fled  from'  the  lower  to  the 
upper  decks,  many  of  them  not  stopping  for  life 
preservers.  Some  of  those  who  did  strap  on  the 
life  preservers  did  not  put  them  on  correctly.  Many 
leaped  into  the  water,  trusting  to  be  picked  up  by  a 
passing  boat.  Although  every  one  was  terribly  fright- 
ened, yet  there  seemed  to  be  no  panic.  The  men 
lowered  the  lifeboats,  which  were  crowded  to  the 
full.  As  many  as  seventy  or  eighty  people,  it  is  said, 
were  packed  into  one  small  boat. 

Leslie  N.  Morton,  a  mere  lad,  has  been  officially 
named  as  bravest  of  the  crew.  He  was  stationed  on 
the  starboard  side,  keeping  look-out,  when  the  torpedo 
struck.  He,  with  the  assistance  of  his  mate,  rowed  a 
lifeboat  for  some  miles,  put  the  people  on  a  fishing 
smack,  and  returned  again  for  other  survivors,  rescuing 
in  all  nearly  a  hundred. 


8ti  LEST    Wi:    FOKCJET 

Thciv  \viM'(^  many  acts  of  heroism  among  the  pas- 
sengers, hut  in  all  of  the  distress  one  young  man  stood 
out  among  the  hundreds  ujion  the  ship.  Alfred  G. 
\'anderbilt.  a  young  American  millionaire,  quickly 
realizing  that  the  steamer  was  sinking,  turned  to  his 
valet  and  cried,  ''Let  us  save  the  kiddies!"  The 
two  sprang  to  the  rescue  of  the  babies  and  small 
children,  carrying  two  of  the  little  ones  in  their  arms 
at  a  time  and  placing  them  carefully  in  the  lifeboats 
with  their  mothers.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  and  his  valet 
continued  their  efforts  to  the  very  last.  When  they 
could  find  no  more  children,  they  turned  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  women  that  were  left.  When  last  seen, 
Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  smilingly,  almost  happily,  lending 
his  aid  to  the  passengers  who  still  remained  on  deck. 

The  whole  civilized  world  honors  the  memory  of 
this  brave  youth,  who  gave  his  life  in  serving  helpless 
women  and  children.  Gratifying  indeed  it  is  to  know 
that  the  little  ones  were  cared  for,  though  sad  to  learn 
that  even  then  only  twenty-five  of  the  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  babies  on  board  were  saved.  About  one 
hundred  children  were  innocent  victims  of  that  das- 
tardly deed  which  the  Germans,  through  savage  desire 
to  terrorize,  became  brutes  enough  to  do. 

Elbert  Hubbard,  a  noted  American  writer,  and  his 
wife  went  down  with  the  ship.  Charles  Frohman,  a 
leading  producer  of  plays,  was  another  prominent 
American  lost.     He  has  been  cited  as  the  finest  example 


"LET  US   SAVE  THE  KIDDIES"  87 

of  faith  and  calm  strength,  for,  realizing  that  there 
was  little  hope  for  him,  he  smilingly  remarked,  ''Wliy 
fear  death?  It  is  the  most  beautiful  adventure  that 
life  gives  us." 

In  less  than  twenty  minutes  after  the  torpedo  struck, 
nothing  except  floating  pieces  of  wreckage  strewn  on 
the  disturbed  surface  of  the  water  marked  the  place  of 
the  great  calamity. 

The  wireless  operator  had  sent  the  S.  0.  S.  signal 
of  distress  several  times,  and  also  had  time  to  send 
the  message,  "Come  at  once,  big  list,  10  miles  south  of 
'  Old  Head  of  Kinsale.'  "  He  had  received  answers  be- 
fore his  apparatus  was  put  out  of  use,  and  soon  trawlers 
and  pilot  boats  came  to  the  rescue  and  brought  to 
shore  those  who  had  survived.  The  cold  ocean  water, 
however,  had  made  many  so  numb  that  they  were 
unable  to  help  themselves  enough  to  be  lifted  into  the 
lifeboats,  even  when  the  life  preservers  had  kept 
them  afloat.  Of  the  159  Americans  on  board,  124 
perished.  In  all,  only  761  people  were  saved;  1198 
perished. 

That  day  the  terrible  news  came  over  the  cable  to 
America,  —  the  great  passenger  steamer  Lusitania  had 
been  torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine ;  probably 
a  thousand  lives  had  been  lost,  among  them  many 
Americans ! 

At  the  White  House,  the  President  realized  the 
awful  import  of  such  a  message. 


88  LEST   WE    FOliCiET 

In  a  da}'  or  so,  nearly  two  thousand  telegrams  poured 
in  from  all  ]iarts  of  the  country;  and  it  is  said  that  the 
President  read  them  all,  for  he  wanted  to  know  how 
the  individual  American  felt. 

The  Germans  offered  all  sorts  of  excuses  for  their 
cruel  deed.     A  German  paper  printed  the  following: 

Must  we  not,  we  who  may  be  defeated  by  starvation  and  by 
lack  of  war  materials,  must  we  not  defend  ourselves  from  this 
great  danger  (with  which  the  enemy's  blockade  threatens  us), 
with  all  our  might  and  with  all  the  means  that  the  German  spirit 
can  invent,  and  which  the  honor  of  the  German  people  recognizes 
as  lawful  weapons?  Have  those,  who  now  raise  such  outcries, 
any  right  to  accuse  us,  those  who  allowed  their  friends  and  rela- 
tives to  trust  themselves  on  a  ship  whose  destruction  was  an- 
nounced with  perfect  clearness  in  advance?  Wlien  our  enemy's 
blockade  method  forces  us  to  measures  in  self-defense,  the  death 
of  non-cotnbatants  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence. 

A  blockade  of  an  enemy's  ports  is,  and  always  has 
been,  a  perfectly  fair  kind  of  warfare.  In  our  Civil 
War,  the  southern  ports  were,  from  the  beginning, 
blockaded  by  the  northern  warships.  Germany  was 
in  no  danger  of  starving,  as  the  events  since  have 
proved.  Her  excuses  were,  as  they  have  been  in 
every  case  where  she  has  played  the  part  of  the  brute, 
worse  than  no  excuses  and  always  based  on  falsehoods. 

''The  steamer  carried  ammunition  for  England," 
they  said.  But  it  was  bought  and  carried  in  ac- 
cordance with  international  law.     Germany  had  the 


"LET  US  SAVE  THE  KIDDIES"  89 

same  right  to  buy  and  carry  from  a  neutral  country. 
''It  was  a  British  ship/'  they  said.  But  it  was  a 
passenger  ship  and  carried  nearly  two  thousand  people, 
many  of  them  Americans,  who,  according  to  all  inter- 
national agreements,  were  guaranteed  safe  passage  even 
in  time  of  war. 

All  nations  recognize  the  obligation  of  an  enemy 
to  visit  and  search  the  vessel  they  think  should  be 
sunk,  to  make  sure  it  carries  contraband  of  war,  and 
if  so,  to  give  the  people  an  opportunity  to  get  safely 
into  the  lifeboats.  Not  only  did  the  Germans  not 
do  this,  but  they  did  not  even  signal  the  ship  that 
it  was  about  to  be  sunk.  The  newspaper  warning 
put  out  by  Bernstorff  was  no  excuse  for  committing 
an  unlawful,  inhuman  act. 

From  all  points  of  view,  the  Germans,  in  sinking 
the  Lusitania,  committed  a  horrible  crime,  not  only 
against  international  law,  but  against  humanity  and 
civilization.  In  all  war,  armed  forces  meet  armed 
forces;  never  do  armed  forces  strangle  and  butcher 
the  innocent  and  unprotected.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  legitimate  warfare,  except  among  barbarians. 

Here  again  was  shown  the  German  attitude  in  the 
''scrap  of  paper."  Evidently  trusting  to  the  great 
distance  of  the  United  States  and  her  well-known 
unpreparedness,  Germany  thought  that  a  friendly 
relation  with  this  country  was  a  matter  of  entire 
indifference  to  her;  or,  if  she  hoped  to  draw  America 


90  LEST    Wi:    FORGET 

into  the  war,   she   littl(>  droainod   to  wliat  end   those 
hopes  woulil  eome ! 

Aroiiiul  the  world  one  \(>r(li('t  was  i)ronounced 
ac:ainst  Germany.  This  verdict  was  well  worded  in 
a  Russian  paper,  the  Courier: 

The  right  to  punish  these  eriininals  who  violate  the  laws  of 
humanity  belongs  first  and  foremost  to  the  great  American  Re- 
public. America  knows  well  how  to  use  this  right.  The  sym- 
pathy of  the  civilized  world  is  guaranteed  her  beforehand.  The 
world  is  being  suffocated  by  poisonous  gases  of  inhuman  cruelty 
spread  abroad  by  Germany,  who,  in  the  madness  of  her  rage,  is 
committing  needless,  purposeless,  and  senseless  murder,  solely 
from  lust  of  blood  and  horrors ! 

The  American  government,  upon  the  occurrence  of 
the  calamity,  showed  great  forbearance,  believing  that 
*'a  man  of  proved  temper  and  tried  courage  is  not  al- 
ways bound  to  return  a  madman's  blow\"  A  strong 
protest  was  sent  to  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
which  caused  German}^  to  abandon  for  a  time  her  sub- 
marine attacks  upon  neutral  vessels.  It  was  the  re- 
newal of  these  attacks  that  finallj'  led  to  the  declara- 
tion of  war  by  the  United  States  of  America  upon 
Germany  and  her  allies,  and  it  was  the  Lusitania  out- 
rage more  than  any  other  one  event  that  roused  the 
fighting  spirit  of  America. 


THE   CHARGE   OF   THE   BLACK  WATCH  AND 
THE    SCOTS   GREYS 

SOMETIMES  a  retreat  is  in  reality  a  great  victory. 
It  has  been  said  that  it  requires  a  greater  general 
to  direct  successfully  a  great  retreat  than  it  does  to 
direct  a  great  attack. 

Some  marvelous  retreats  have  occurred  in  the 
World  War,  the  greatest  coming  at  its  very  beginning, 
when  the  English  and  French  fell  back  to  save  Paris 
and  to  defeat  the  Germans  at  the  Marne.  This  re- 
treat was  really  a  series  of  battles,  day  after  day,  with 
terrible  losses  on  both  sides. 

An  English  private  in  the  Black  Watch,  named 
Walter  Morton,  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  described 
for  the  Scotsmen  one  of  these  battles  in  which  his 
regiment  and  the  Scots  Greys  made  a  magnificent 
charge.     His  story  was  as  follows  : 

We  went  straight  from  Boulogne  to  Mons,  being  one  of  the 
first  British  regiments  to  reach  that  place.  Neither  army  seemed 
to  have  a  very  good  position  there,  but  the  numbers  of  the  Ger- 
mans were  far  too  great  to  give  us  any  chance  of  success.  We 
weie  hard  at  it  all  day  on  Monday ;    and  on  Tuesday,  as  the 

91 


92  LEST  WE   FORGET 

French  reinforcements  which  wo  liad  boon  expecting  did  not 
arrive,  the  order  was  given  to  retire. 

In  our  retreat  we  marched  close  upon  eighty  miles.  We 
passed  through  Cambrai,  and  a  halt  was  called  at  St.  Quciitin. 
The  Germans,  in  their  mad  rush  to  get  to  Paris,  had  seldom 
been  far  behinil  us,  and  when  we  came  to  St.  Quentin  the  word 
went  through  the  ranks  that  we  were  going  into  action.  The 
men  were  quite  jubilant  at  the  prospect.  They  had  not  been  at 
all  pleased  at  their  continued  retirement  before  the  enemy,  and 
they  at  once  started  to  get  things  read}-.  The  engagement 
opened  briskly,  both  our  artillery  and  the  Germans  going  at  it 
for  all  thej-  were  worth.  We  were  in  good  skirmishing  order, 
and  under  the  cover  of  our  guns  we  were  all  the  time  getting 
nearer  and  nearer  the  enemy.  When  we  had  come  to  within 
100  yards  of  the  German  lines,  the  commands  were  issued  for  a 
charge,  and  the  Black  Watch  made  the  charge  along  with  the 
Scots  Greys.  Not  far  from  us  the  9th  Lancers  and  the  Camer- 
onians  joined  in  the  attack. 

It  was  the  finest  thing  I  ever  saw.  The  Scots  Greys  galloped 
forward  with  us  hanging  on  to  their  stirrups,  and  il  was  a  sight 
never  to  be  forgotten.  We  were  simply  being  dragged  by  the 
horses  as  they  flew  forward  through  a  perfect  cloud  (jf  l)ullets 
from  the  enemy's  maxims.  All  other  sounds  were  drowned  by 
the  thunder  of  the  horses'  hoofs  as  they  careered  wildly  on,  some 
of  them  nearly  driven  mad  by  the  bullets  which  struck  them. 
It  was  no  time  for  much  thinking.  Saddles  were  being  emptied 
quickly,  as  we  closed  on  the  German  lines  and  tore  past  their 
maxims,  which  were  in  the  front  ranks. 

We  were  on  the  German  gunners  before  they  knew  where  they 
were,  and  many  of  them  went  down,  scarcely  realizing  that  we 
were  amongst  them.  Then  the  fray  commenced  in  deadly  earnest. 
The  Black  Watch  and  the  Scots  Greys  went  into  it  Uke  men  pos- 


THE  BLACK  WATCH  AND   THE  SCOTS  GREYS    93 

sessed.  They  fought  hke  demons.  It  was  our  bayonets  against 
the  Germans'  swords.  You  could  see  nothing  but  the  ghnt  of 
steel,  and  soon  even  that  was  wanting  as  our  boys  got  well  into 
the  midst  of  the  enemy.  The  swords  of  the  Germans  were  no 
use  against  our  bayonets.     They  went  down  in  hundreds. 

Then  the  enemy  began  to  waver,  and  soon  broke  and  fled 
before  the  bayonets,  like  rabbits  before  the  shot  of  a  gun. 

There  were  about  1900  of  us  in  that  charge  against  20,000 
Germans,  and  the  charge  itself  lasted  about  four  hours.  We 
took  close  upon  4000  prisoners,  and  captured  a  lot  of  their  guns. 
In  the  course  of  the  fighting  I  got  a  cut  from  a  German  sword  — 
they  are  very  much  like  saws  —  and  fell  into  a  pool  of  water, 
where  I  lay  unconscious  for  twenty-three  hours.  I  was  picked 
up  by  one  of  the  9th  Lancers. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   THE    MARNE 

AT  Marathon  (490  b.c.)  and  at  Salamis  (480  b.c.) 
the  Greeks  defeated  the  Persians  and  saved 
Europe  for  western  civilization.  Had  the  Persians 
won,  the  history  of  Europe  and  of  the  world  would 
be  the  stor}-  of  the  civilization  of  the  East  instead  of 
that  of  the  West. 

At  Tours  (732  a.d.)  Charles  Martel  defeated  the 
forces  of  the  Mohammedans,  who  had  already  con- 
quered Spain,  and  saved  Europe  for  Christianity. 

At  the  Marne  (1914  and  1918)  the  French,  the 
English,  and  (in  the  second  battle)  the  Americans, 
defeated  the  modern  Huns  and  saved  Europe  for 
democracy  and  from  the  rule  of  merciless  brute  force. 
The  First  Battle  of  the  Marne  has  been  called  the 
sixteenth  decisive  battle  of  the  world. 

Before  the  First  Battle  of  the  Marne,  September  5 
to  10,  1914,  the  German  military  machine  had  been 
winning,  as  never  an  army  had  won  before  in  the 
entire  recorded  history  of  the  world.  Its  path  had 
been  one  of  treachery,  of  atrocities,  of  savagery,  but 
one  of  tremendous  and  unparalleled  victory.  The 
Germans  at  home  called  it  "the  great  times." 

94 


THE  BATTLES   OF  THE  MARNE  95 

Brave  little  Belgium  had  been  able  to  hold  back 
the  German  hordes  but  for  a  short  time  at  Liege  and 
Namur,  but,  as  future  events  proved,  long  enough 
to  make  possible  the  decisive  battles  at  the  Marne. 
The  Germans  had  taken  Brussels  and  Antwerp,  had 
destroyed  Louvain,  had  filled  themselves  with  out- 
rage and  murder,  had  drunk  of  blood  and  wine  and 
success  until  they  were  thoroughly  intoxicated  with 
the  belief  so  common  to  drunken  brutes  that  no  men 
in  the  world  can  stand  against  them.  The  little 
Belgian  army,  ^Hhe  contemptible  little  English  army" 
(as  the  Kaiser  called  it),  and  the  magnificent  French 
army  had  been  retreating  day  by  day  almost  as  fast 
as  the  Germans  could  advance.  Soon  Paris  and  then 
all  of  France  would  be  in  German  hands  —  and  what 
a  glorious  time  they  would  have  in  the  gayest  and 
most  beautiful  capital  of  the  world.  Although  bodies 
of  German  cavalry  raided  the  coast,  the  German 
leaders,  elated  and  intoxicated  with  thoughts  of  rich 
plunder  and  dissipation,  did  not  turn  aside  in  force 
to  follow  the  Belgian  army  and  to  take  the  Channel 
ports  of  Dunkirk,  Calais,  and  Boulogne,  but  pushed 
on  toward  Paris.  The  French  government,  expecting 
a  siege  of  the  city,  moved  to  Bordeaux. 

The  main  forces  of  the  Germans  had  turned  south 
from  the  coast  towards  Paris  with  General  von  Kluck's 
army  of  about  200,000  men  at  the  right  or  west  of 
the  German  line  of  advance.     General  von  Kluck  was 


96  LEST   WE   FORGET 

attonipting  to  outflank  the  English  army,  that  is,  to 
throw  part  of  his  forces  around  the  extreme  western 
end  of  the  English  army,  which  had  to  keep  retiring 
rajiidly  to  avoid  being  encircled.  The  French  army 
was  obliged  to  fall  back  to  keep  in  touch  with  the 
British. 

The  English  retired  nearly  one  hundred  miles 
without  losing  their  cheerfulness  or  their  confidence. 
It  was  this  turning  movement  on  the  left  that  forced 
all  the  allies  to  retire.  An  English  writer  who  was 
with  the  army  said  that  though  the  Germans  con- 
stantly attacked  wdth  reckless  courage,  yet  the  British 
and  French  retired  slowly  with  their  faces  to  the  foe, 
and  showing  the  greatest  heroism.  The  numbers  of 
the  Germans  were  greater  than  those  of  the  Allies, 
and  the  Germans  gave  them  no  rest.  Night  and  day 
the\^  hammered  away,  coming  on  like  great  weaves. 
The  gaps  the  English  made  w^ere  filled  instantly.  The 
German  guns  played  upon  the  Allies  constantl3^ 
Their  cavalry  swept  down  upon  them  recklessly.  If 
the  English  had  great  losses,  the  Germans  had  greater. 
The  English  fought  with  cool  bravery.  They  never 
wavered  an  instant.  But  the  pressure  u))on  them 
could  not  be  resisted.  Column  after  column,  squadron 
after  squadron,  mass  after  mass,  the  enemy  came  on 
like  a  battering  ram,  crushing  everything  in  its  way. 
They  swarmed  on  all  sides,  even  though  shattered  by 
shot  and  shell.     Nothing  but  the  steadfast  courage, 


THE  BATTLES  OF  THE  MARNE  97 

the  sheer  pluck,  the  spirit,  the  soul  of  the  English 
soldiers  saved  the  army  from  complete  destruction. 

"The  enemy  hung  on  to  us  like  grim  death,"  said  a 
wounded  soldier.  '^They  wanted  us  to  retreat  in  a 
direction  that  would  best  suit  their  plans.  But  we 
were  not  taking  marching  orders  from  them.  We 
went  our  own  way  at  our  own  pace.  We  were  re- 
tiring, not  retreating." 

Then  on  the  fifth  of  September  came  General  Joffre's 
appeal  to  the  defenders  of  civilization,  and  particularly 
to  the  French  soldiers:  "The  hour  has  come  to  hold 
our  positions  at  any  cost  and  to  fight  rather  than  to 
retreat.  .  .  .  No  longer  must  we  look  at  the  enemy 
over  our  shoulders,  for  the  time  has  come  to  put 
forth  all  our  efforts  in  attacking  and  defeating 
him." 

A  French  writer  has  said  of  the  retreat,  which  by 
order  of  General  Joffre  had  now  come  to  an  end, 
"Their  bodies  retreated,  but  never  their  souls;" 
and  he  might  have  added  of  the  German  advance, 
"It  was  an  advance  of  bodies,  not  of  souls."  It 
was  material  might  in  men  and  guns  forcing  back 
an  army  weaker  in  everything  except  soul  and  spirit. 
The  World  War  has  shown  over  and  over  again,  not 
only  at  the  Marne  but  at  a  hundred  other  places  and 
in  a  hundred  other  ways,  that  soul  and  spirit  are  the 
real  conquerors  and  that  God  is  not  always,  as  Napoleon 
said,  on  the  side  of  the  larger  battalions. 


98  LEST   WE   FOKGET 

The  Germans  had  conio  on  fkislied  with  success  and 
egotism,  destroying  French  property,  looting,  and 
dissipatinii.  Their  sjnrit  was  the  spirit  the}^  found 
in  the  French  wine  cellars,  and  as  for  soul,  as  civilized 
people  understand  the  word,  they  had  none.  They 
were  an  army  of  tired,  conquering  brutes.  Their 
morale  was  low  because  of  their  great  success  and 
all  that  had  accompanied  it  of  feasts  and  slaughter. 
The  morale  of  the  French  was  never  higher.  Everj^ 
day  and  everj'  hour  the}'  had  been  compelled  to  re- 
treat, giving  up,  giving  up  all  that  they  loved  even 
better  than  life  itself  to  these  brutes,  until  the  brain 
of  the  French  army  said  oh  the  evening  of  September  5, 
1914,  ^'You  have  gone  so  far  in  order  that  you  may 
now  stand  successfully."  And  in  the  morning  at 
dawn,  it  was  not  onh'  the  bodies  of  the  French  soldiers 
that  hurled  themselves  against  the  invaders,  but  the 
souls  of  French  men,  the  soul  of  France;  and  all 
along  the  line  from  Verdun  to  Meaux,  under  the 
gallant  leadership  of  Manoury,  Foch,  Sarrail,  Castel- 
nau,  and  others,  the  French  armies  held.  If  they  had 
not  held  —  not  only  held  but  attacked  —  all  of  future 
history  would  be  different. 

General  Foch,  commander  in  chief  at  the  Second 
Battle  of  the  Marne,  inspired  his  troops  in  this  first 
battle  to  supernatural  bravery.  He  knew  they  must 
not  yield,  so  with  his  right  broken,  his  left  shattered, 
he  attacked  with  his  center.     It  was  that  or  retreat. 


THE   BATTLES   OF  THE   MARNE  99 

His  message  to  the  commander-in-chief,  General  Joffre, 
will  never  be  forgotten. 

^'My  left  has  been  forced  back,  my  right  is  routed. 
I  shall  attack  with  the  center." 

The  Germans  could  not  put  their  souls  into  the 
battles  as  the  French  soldiers  did,  and  besides,  the 
Germans  were  weakened  by  feasting  and  dissipation. 
With  the  Huns  it  was  the  right  of  might ;  with  the 
Allies  it  was  the  might  of  right,  and  in  the  end  the 
second  always  defeats  the  first. 

Some  one  has  well  said  : 

''It  is  the  law  of  good  to  protect  and  to  build  up. 
It  is  the  law  of  evil  to  destroy.  It  is  in  the  very  nature 
of  good  to  lead  men  aright.  It  is  in  the  very  nature 
of  evil  to  lead  men  astray.  Goodness  makes  for 
wisdom.  Badness  is  continually  exercising  poor  judg- 
ment. 

''Germany  and  Austria  have  made  colossal  mis- 
takes in  this  war  because  of  their  colossal  violation 
of  truth  and  justice.  In  brutally  wronging  Serbia, 
they  lost  the  friendship  and  support  of  Italy.  In 
perpetrating  the  monstrous  crime  against  Belgium, 
they  brought  against  them  the  whole  might  of  the 
British  Empire.  In  breaking  international  law  with 
their  reckless  submarine  warfare,  they  caused  the 
United  States  to  enter  the  war  on  the  side  of  the 
Allies." 

It  is  said   that  the   army  of  the  German  Crown 


100  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Prince  retreated  before  the  impetuous  attack  of  the 
French  and.  because  of  this  retreat,  all  the  other 
German  armies  were  obliged  to  do  likewise.  It  is 
more  probable,  however,  that  the  general  retreat  was 
due  to  General  Joffre's  strategy.  The  Germans  under 
General  von  Kluck  were  within  about  twenty  miles 
of  Paris,  near  ^leaux  on  the  Marne,  when  suddenly 
they  were  struck  in  the  flank  and  rear  by  about  twenty 
thousand  fresh  troops  brought  out  unexpectedly  from 
Paris  in  motor  trucks,  taxis,  limousines,  and  all  kinds  of 
pleasure  cars.  Now  the  Germans,  who  had  caused  the 
retreat  of  the  French  and  British  armies  upon  Paris  by 
continually  outflanking  the  British,  were  in  their  turn 
outflanked  and  compelled  to  retreat,  and  Paris  was 
saved. 

An  English  writer  has  said  that  although  the  Ger- 
mans w'ere  outflanked  only  in  the  west,  yet  the  blow 
passed  from  one  end  of  the  German  line  to  the  other, 
from  Meaux  to  Verdun,  just  as  the  blow  from  the 
buffer  of  the  engine,  w^hen  it  is  coupled  to  the  train, 
passes  from  one  truck  to  another  to  the  very  end  of 
the  train. 

The  Germans  in  the  next  few  days  retreated  from 
the  Marne  to  the  Aisne,  where  they  entrenched. 
Paris  and  France  and  Europe  and  the  only  w^orld 
w^orth  living  in  were  saved.  The  French  government 
moved  back  to  Paris. 

Hall    Caine   in    "  Three    Hundred    and    Sixty-five 


THE  BATTLES  OF  THE  MARNE  101 

Days"  says:  ''The  soul  of  France  did  not  fail 
her.  It  heard  the  second  approach  of  that  monstrous 
Prussian  horde,  which,  like  a  broad,  irresistible  tide, 
sweeping  across  one  half  of  Europe,  came  down, 
down,  down  from  Mons  until  the  thunder  of  its  guns 
could  again  be  heard  on  the  boulevards.  And  then 
came  the  great  miracle !  Just  as  the  sea  itself  can 
rise  no  higher  when  it  has  reached  the  top  of  the 
flood,  so  the  mighty  army  of  Germany  had  to  stop 
its  axivance  thirty  kilometres  north  of  Paris ;  and 
when  it  stirred  again,  it  had  to  go  back.  And  back 
and  back  it  went  before  the  armies  of  France,  Britain, 
and  Belgium,  until  it  reached  a  point  at  which  it 
could  dig  itself  into  the  earth  and  hide  in  a  long, 
serpentine  trench  stretching  from  the  Alps  to  the 
sea. 

''Only  then  did  the  spirit  of  France  draw  breath 
for  a  moment,  and  the  next  flash  as  of  lightning  showed 
her  offering  thanks  and  making  supplications  before 
the  white  statue  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  in  the  apse  of  the 
great  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  sacred  to  innumerable 
memories.  On  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael,  ten  thousand 
of  the  women  of  Paris  were  kneeling  under  the  dark 
vault,  and  on  the  broad  space  in  the  front  of  the 
majestic  fagade,  praying  for  victory.  It  was  a  great 
and  grandiose  scene,  recalling  the  days  when  faith 
was  strong  and  purer.  Old  and  young,  rich  and  poor, 
every  woman  with  some  soul  that  was  dear  to  her  in 


102  LEST   WE   FORGET 

tliat  inferno  at  the  front  —  tlie  Motherhood  of  France 
was  there  to  ask  God  for  the  triumph  of  the  right. 

"And  in  the  spirit  of  that  prater  the  soul  of  France 
still  lives."  i 

Nearly  four  years  later  the  Germans,  with  greatly 
increased  forces  in  France,  due  to  the  collapse  of 
Russia,  were  again  upon  the  Marne  and  only  about 
forty  miles  from  Paris.  French  and  English  and  Amer- 
icans were  opposing  them  upon  a  line  shaped  like  a 
great  letter  U,  extending  south  with  Rheims  at  the 
top  on  the  east,  and  Soissons  at  the  top  on  the  w^est. 
The  Marne  River  was  at  the  curve  at  the  bottom, 
and  there  most  of  the  Americans  were  stationed. 

On  July  15,  1918,  the  Germans  began  the  offensive 
which  was  to  result,  as  they  hoped,  in  the  capture 
of  Paris.  They  attacked  on  the  Marne  and  between 
the  Marne  and  Rheims.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth 
day,  they  had  advanced  about  six  miles,  crossing  the 
Marne  and  pushing  back  the  American  troops.  The 
Americans  fought  bravely  and  soon  regained  the 
ground  they  had  lost,  although  the  French  generals 
suggested  that  they  should  not  attempt  to  retake  it. 
The  American  commander,  however,  sent  word  to 
the  French  general,  who  was  his  superior  officer, 
saying  that  he  did  not  feel  able  to  follow  the  sugges- 
tion, for  the  American  flag  had  been  compelled  to 
retire.  None  of  his  soldiers,  he  said,  would  under- 
stand this  being  allowed  as  long  as  the}^  were  able  to 


THE  BATTLES  OF  THE  MARNE  103 

attacko  ''We  are  going  to  counter-attack,"  he  added. 
They  did  so,  and  regained  all  the  ground  lost. 

It  is  clear  now  that  the  French  generals  knew  the 
counter-attack  was  unnecessary,  and  knew  why.  West 
of  the  line  from  Soissons  to  the  Marne  is  a  great  forest, 
and  back  of  this  General  Foch,  commander  in  chief  of 
all  the  allied  armies,  had  been  for  several  days  gather- 
ing guns,  ammunition,  tanks,  and  troops  ready  to 
strike  the  flank  of  tlie  Germans,  when  they  should 
attack  between  Rheims  and  the  Marne  and  attempt 
to  cross  the  Marne,  as  he  knew  they  would  in  their 
desire  to  take  Paris.  A  terrible  tempest  passed  over 
the  region  just  before  the  Allied  attack,  preventing 
the  Germans  from  observing  the  advancing  tanks  and 
troops.  An  English  writer  has  said,  "  The  storm  which 
had  covered  the  noise  of  the  final  preparation  of  a 
number  of  tanks  which  led  the  assault,  was  over.  Not 
a  sound  was  heard  in  the  forest,  though  it  was  teem- 
ing with  men  and  horses.  Then  suddenly  the  ap- 
pointed moment  came  when  day  broke.  There  was 
a  roar  from  all  the  guns,  the  whole  front  broke  into 
activity  as  men  and  tanks  dashed  forward.  I  suppose 
there  has  been  nothing  more  dramatic  in  the  whole 
war  than  this  scene  on  which  the  general  looked  down 
from  the  top  of  a  high  perch  in  the  forest  on  that 
quiet  July  morning!  " 

The  Allies  struck  so  unexpectedly  that  they  cap- 
tured hundreds  of  guns  and  thousands  of  prisoners, 


lot  LEST  WK  F()H(;i:t 

and  obliged  the  Germans  to  fall  back  across  the  Marne, 
losing  all  the  territor}-  they  had  gained  and  much 
more.  The  danger  to  Paris  was  again  turned  aside 
b}'  the  military  genius  of  General  Foch  and  the  bravery 
of  the  troops  under  his  command. 

It  was  the  first  great  battle  in  which  the  Americans 
took  part.  The}-  showed  themselves  equal  to  the 
best  of  the  Allies,  and  better  than  the  Germans.  A 
London  paper  called  the  American  counter-attack 
one  of  the  historical  incidents  of  the  whole  war.  All 
Europe,  except  Hunland,  rang  with  praises  of  the 
American  troops. 


In  the  historj'  of  the  World  War,  most  of  the  great 
land  battles  will  be  named  from  rivers,  the  Marne,  the 
Yser,  the  Somme,  the  Aisne,  the  Ailette,  the  Ancre,  the 
Bug,  the  Dneister,  the  Dunajec  and  the  Piave.  A 
battle  of  the  Rhine  will  probably  be  fought  before 
German  territory  can  be  invaded  to  any  great  extent. 


THE   QUEEN'S   FLOWER 

ON  July  25,  1918,  nearly  every  person  in  Washing- 
ton, the  capital  of  the  United  States,  was  asked 
to  buy  a  bunch  of  forget-me-nots ;  and  nearly  every 
one  responded,  so  that  almost  $7000  worth  was  sold 
in  about  an  hour.  In  many  other  cities  sales  were 
held,  and  for  many  years  to  come  such  sales  will  be 
held  all  over  the  civilized  world,  for  the  forget-me-not 
is  the  Queen's  flower,  chosen  by  Elizabeth,  Queen  of 
Belgium,  to  be  sold  on  her  birthday,  July  25,  to  raise 
money  for  the  children  of  Belgium.  She  is  a  lover  of 
flowers  as  are  all  the  people  of  her  country.  Many 
parts  of  Belgium  were  before  the  war,  like  Holland, 
devoted  to  raising  flowers  for  bulbs  and  seeds.  It  is 
said  that  the  garden  at  the  Belgian  Royal  Palace  was 
the  most  beautiful  garden  in  the  world. 

For  many  years  it  has  been  the  Queen's  custom  to 
name  a  flower  to  be  sold  on  her  birthday  for  the  benefit 
of  some  good  cause.  In  1910  she  named  the  La  France 
rose  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  sufferers  from  tubercu- 
losis in  Belgium.  Nearly  $100,000  was  raised  on  this 
one  day. 

The  war  has  not    done  away  with   the  beautiful 

105 


10r>  LEST   WK    FOHCET 

ciistoni,  and  on  the  Queen's  birtliday  in  1918,  she 
named  a  flower  to  he  sold  to  raise  money  to  help 
care  foi-  th(>  ('hil(h(Mi  of  Belgium.  81ie  chose  the 
forget-me-not.  for  tlu^  (^ueen  can  never  forget  the 
ttMrible  sacrifice  her  country  was  called  upon  to  make, 
nor  th(^  brutal  manner  in  which  the  Huns  used  their 
])ower. 

Those  who  have  carefully  studied  the  facts  have 
concluded  that  the  Huns  coolly  and  deliberately 
planned  to  destro}'  Belgium  as  a  country  and  a  people, 
not  only  during  the  war  but  forever.  It  was  to  carry 
out  this  ))lan  that  the  villages  and  cities  were  burned 
or  bombarded  until  they  were  nothing  but  heaps  of 
stone  and  ashes ;  that  much  of  the  machinery  was 
either  destroyed  or  carried  into  Germany ;  that  the 
Belgian  boys  and  men  were  herded  together  and  de- 
ported into  Germany  to  work  as  slaves ;  and  that  the 
Belgian  babies  were  neglected,  starved,  and  murdered. 
If  onl}'  the  old  and  feeble  were  left  at  the  end  of  the 
war,  there  could  be  no  Belgium  to  compete  with  Ger- 
many, and  Germany  desired  this  whether  she  should 
win  or  lose. 

America  has  done  much  to  relieve  the  suffering  of 
the  Belgian  people.  Germany  saw  to  it,  however, 
that  the  babies  and  very  3'oung  children  were  neglected 
as  far  as  possible,  with  the  exception  of  healthy 
Belgian  boy  babies,  and  many  of  these  she  snatched 
from   their  parents  and  carried  into  Germany  to  be 


THE   QUEEN'S  FLOWER  107 

raised  as  Huns.  It  has  been  said  that  no  horror  of 
the  war  equaled  the  horror  of  what  Germany  did  to 
Belgian  childhood. 

Queen  Elizabeth  realized  the  danger  and  did  every- 
thing in  her  power  to  protect  and  help  the  babies 
of  Belgium.  Although  she  is  by  birth  a  German 
princess,  she  wishes  never  to  forget  and  that  the 
world  may  never  forget  the  great  wrong  done  her 
country.  In  naming  the  forget-me-not  she  meant 
that  Belgium's  wrong  should  never  be  forgotten,  and 
that  the  children  of  Belgium  should  not  be  forgotten. 

The  flower  is  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  Belgian 
children  at  all  times  and  in  all  countries,  for  the  Queen 
has  said  she  will  never  name  another. 

The  little  blue  forget-me-not  will  be  sold  all  over 
the  civilized  world,  that  means  except  in  Hunland, 
and  wherever  it  is  sold  Belgium's  story  will  be  re- 
membered. All  that  is  sweet  and  beautiful  and  pure 
is  connecting  itself  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men 
with  Belgium  in  her  sacrifice  and  suffering ;  and  as 
long  as  history  is  recorded  and  remembered,  the 
word  ''Belgium"  will  awaken  these  feehngs  in  those 
who  read.  This  is  a  part  of  her  reward,  just  as  the 
opposite  is  a  part  of  the  punishment  of  the  Hun. 


A  r   SCHOOL   NEAR  THE   LINES 

Till*]  boys  and  girls  in  America  have  listened 
with  great  interest  and  symj^athy  to  the  many 
stories  of  children  in  devastated  France,  left  father- 
less, homeless,  perhaps  motherless,  with  no  games 
or  sport,  indeed  with  no  desire  to  play  games  or  sports 
of  any  kind.  For  them,  there  seemed  to  be  only  the 
awful  roar  and  thunder  of  the  cannon,  which  might 
at  any  moment  send  down  a  bursting  shell  upon  their 
heads.  The  clothes  they  wore  and  the  food  they  ate 
were  theirs  only  as  they  were  given  to  them,  and  so 
often  given  by  strangers. 

In  Ajuerica  the  school  children  worked,  earned, 
saved,  and  sent  their  gifts  to  those  thousands  of 
destitute  children,  and  with  their  gifts  sent  letters 
of  love  and  interest  to  their  little  French  cousins 
across  the  seas. 

!Many  of  the  letters  were  written  in  quiet,  sunny 
schoolrooms,  thousands  of  miles  from  the  noise  of 
battle.  But  many  a  letter  thus  written  reached  the 
hands  of  a  child  who  sat  huddled  beside  his  teacher 
in  a  damp,  dark  cellar  that  took  the  place  of  the  pleas- 
ant little  schoolhouse  he  had  known. 

But  in  those  cellars  and  hidden  places,  the  children 

108 


AT  SCHOOL  NEAR  THE  LINES  109 

studied  and  learned  as  best  they  might,  in  order  some 
day  to  be  strong,  bright  men  and  women  for  their 
beloved  France,  when  the  days  of  battle  should  be 
over  and  victory  should  have  been  won  for  them  to  keep. 

The  gladness  of  the  children  when  they  received 
the  letters  will  probably  never  be  fully  known.  Per- 
haps it  seemed  to  some  of  them  like  that  morning  on 
which  they  marched  away  from  the  school  building 
for  the  last  time.  The  shells  had  begun  to  burst 
near  them,  as  they  sat  in  the  morning  session.  Quickly 
they  put  aside  their  work,  and  listened  quietly  while 
the  master  timed  the  interval  between  the  bursting 
of  the  shells.  At  his  order,  they  had  formed  in  line 
for  marching,  and  at  the  moment  the  third  or  fourth 
shell  fell,  they  marched  out  of  the  school  away  into 
a  cellar  seventy  paces  off.  There,  sheltered  by  the 
strong,  stout  walls,  they  listened  to  the  next  shell 
bursting  as  it  fell  straight  down  into  the  schoolhouse, 
where  by  a  few  moments'  delay,  they  would  all  have 
perished  or  been  severely  injured. 

So,  while  they  heard  the  cannon  roaring,  they  were 
happy  to  know  that  their  friends  in  America  thought 
of  them  and  were  helping  them.  No  one  will  ever 
realize  just  how  much  it  meant  to  the  French  people 
to  know  that  America  was  their  friend,  or  the  great 
joy  they  felt  when  the  American  soldiers  marched  in 
to  take  their  places  in  the  fight  for  France  and  the 
freedom  of  the  world. 


110  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Odette  Gastincl,  a  thirteen-year-old  girl  of  the 
Lvc(5e  Victor  Diiniy,  one  of  the  schoolrooms  near 
the  front,  has  written  of  the  coming  of  the  Americans. 
Throughout  the  United  States  her  little  essay  has 
been  read,  and  grcvit  men  and  women  have  marveled 
at  its  beauty  of  thought  and  wording,  and  have  called 
it  a  little  masterpiece. 

In  the  first  paragraph,  she  tells  of  the  great  distance 
between  the  millions  of  men  (the  Germans  and  the 
Allies)  although  separated  only  by  a  narrow  stream  ; 
and  in  the  second,  she  speaks  of  the  closeness  of  sym- 
pathy between  France  and  America,  —  though  America 
lies  three  thousand  miles  over  the  sea. 

It  was  only  a  little  river,  almost  a  brook ;  it  was  called  the 
Yser.  One  could  talk  from  one  side  to  the  other  without  raising 
one's  voice,  and  the  birds  could  fl}-  over  it  with  one  sweep  of  their 
wings.  And  on  the  two  banks  there  were  millions  of  men,  the 
one  turned  toward  the  other,  eye  to  eye.  But  the  distance  which 
separated  them  was  greater  than  the  spaces  between  the  stars  in 
the  sky ;  it  was  the  distance  which  separates  right  from  injustice. 

The  ocean  is  so  vast  that  the  sea  gulls  do  not  dare  to  cross  it. 
During  seven  days  and  seven  nights  the  great  steamships  of 
America,  going  at  full  speed,  drive  through  the  deep  waters  be- 
fore the  lighthouses  of  France  come  into  view ;  but  from  one 
side  to  the  other,  hearts  are  touching. 

It  is  no  w^onder  that  the  great  American,  General 
Pershing,  stopped,  in  all  the  tumult  and  business  of 
w^ar,  to  write  to  people  in  America : 


111 


A   PLACE   IN   THE   SUN 

THE  history  of  Rome  about  1500  years  ago 
tells  us  of  ''the  wild  and  terrifying  hordes" 
of  Huns,  with  ideas  little  above  those  of  plunder 
and  wanton  destruction,  led  by  Attila  whose  ''pur- 
pose was  to  pillage  and  increase  his  power."  They 
came  near  setting  civilization  back  for  hundreds  of 
years,  but  were  finally  subdued.  When  we  remember 
these  facts,  we  do  not  wonder  that  the  Germans  are 
called,  and  probably  always  will  be  called,  Huns; 
but  another  explanation  is  the  true  one. 

^Mien  in  1900,  a  German  army  was  embarking  at 
Bremerhaven  for  China  to  help  other  nations  to  put 
down  the  Boxer  rebellion,  the  German  Kaiser,  Wil- 
liam II,  in  addressing  his  troops  said:  "When  you 
come  upon  the  enemy,  no  quarter  will  be  given,  no 
prisoners  will  be  taken.  As  the  Huns  under  their 
King  Attila,  a  thousand  years  ago,  made  a  name 
for  themselves  which  is  still  mighty  in  tradition  and 
story,  so  may  the  name  of  German  in  China  be  kept 
alive  through  you  in  such  a  wise  that  no  Chinese  will 
ever  again  attempt  to  look  askance  at  a  German." 

The  United  States  helped  put  down  the  Boxer 
rebellion,   and   with   other   nations  was   paid   an   in- 

112 


A  PLACE   IN  THE  SUN  113 

demnity  by  China.  By  vote  of  Congress,  the  United 
States  returned  the  money  to  China.  Germany  acted 
very  differently,  for  but  three  years  before,  she  had 
seized  from  China  the  land  about  Kiaochau  Bay  and 
the  port  of  Tsingchau,  as  reparation  for  the  murder  of 
two  German  missionaries.  Although  Germany  had 
strongly  fortified  this  territory,  Japan  besieged  it  and 
regained  it  in  November,  1914. 

In  speaking  in  1901  of  Germany's  then  new  pos- 
session in  China,  the  Kaiser  said:  "In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  we  have  no  such  fleet  as  we  should  have, 
we  have  conquered  for  ourselves  a  place  in  the  sun. 
It  will  now  be  my  duty  to  see  to  it  that  this  place 
in  the  sun  shall  remain  our  undisputed  possession, 
in  order  that  the  sun's  rays  may  fall  fruitfully  upon 
our  activity  and  trade  in  foreign  parts."  The  German 
Crown  Prince,  in  an  introduction  to  a  book  published 
in  1913,  said:  ''It  is  only  by  relying  on  our  good 
German  sword  that  we  can  hope  to  conquer  the  place 
in  the  sun  which  rightly  belongs  to  us  and  which  no 
one  will  yield  to  us  voluntarily.  Till  the  world  comes 
to  an  end,  the  ultimate  decision  must  rest  with  the 
sword." 

These  statements  make  clear  to  us  how  the  modern 
Huns  would  win  the  place  in  the  sun  which  they  have 
been  taught  to  believe  rightly  belongs  to  them. 

It  is  possible  that  the  Kaiser  took  his  idea  of  ''a 
place  in  the  sun"  from  a  wonderful  old  copper  en- 


114  Li;sr  w  i;  ioucjet 

liiavinti-  l\v  \\\c  .uivatcst  of  all  (iri'iiian  artists,  Albrecht 
DiiriM-.  'V\\c  vwj^viwinu:  was  made  in  l")ll^  and  repre- 
sents a  Ciormaii  knij;ht  in  full  armor  mounted  upon 
a  fine  war  hors(\  ridinii;  into  a  dark  and  narrow^  d(^file 
between  cliffs,  to  reach  a  beautiful  castle  standing 
in  the  sun  on  a  hill  beyond.  A  narrow^  path  runs 
down  from  the  castle,  which  the  knight  can  reach 
only  by  passing  through  the  gloomy  and  dangerous 
defile  between  the  rocks.  If  he  w-ould  reach  his  de- 
sired place  in  the  sun,  he  must  be  afraid  of  nothing, 
even  though  human  skulls  and  lizards  are  under  his 
horse's  feet  and  death  and  the  devil  travel  by  his 
side.  His  horse  and  liis  dog  are  evidently  afraid,  but 
the  knight  himself  shows  no  fear  as  he  rides  forward 
with  his  "good  German  sword"  at  his  side  and  his 
long  spear  over  his  shoulder.  A  recent  German 
writer  has  said  about  this  picture,  ''Every  German 
heart  will  comprehend  the  knight  who  persists  in 
spite  of  death  and  the  devil  in  the  course  on  which 
he  has  entered.  Such  a  man  of  resolute  action  is 
not  tormented  by  subtle  doubts." 

So  has  Germany  in  the  World  War  tried  to  ride 
through  the  valley  of  death  and  destruction,  wdth 
death  and  the  devil  always  by  her  side,  to  reach  a 
coveted  place  in  the  sun.  That  such  a  place  can  be 
attained  only  by  force  is  the  terribly  wrong  ideal  that 
has  been  taught  to  the  German  people,  to  the  children 
in  the  schools,  to  the  adults  in  public  meetings  and  in 


Seeking  a  Place  in  the  Sun 


liy  AlbrcchlDUrer 


115 


no  LEST   WE   FORGET 

tho  public  jiross,  until  at  last  they  have  come  to  be- 
lieve it,  and  are  willing  to  ride  through  the  world 
accompanied  by  death  and  the  devil  if  they  may 
thus  gain  "a  place  in  the  sun." 

They  are,  as  a  German  poet,  Felix  Dahn,  wrote,  the 
kith  and  kin  of  Thor,  the  god  of  might,  who  conquered 
all  lands  with  his  thundering  hammer ;  and  it  is  their 
destiny  to  conquer  the  world  by  "  the  good  German 
sword." 

This  is  the  ideal  that  the  Allies  are  fighting  against. 
What  is  the  ideal  they  are  fighting  for?  It  may  also 
be  illustrated  by  a  picture,  but  this  time  by  a  word 
picture  written  by  a  man  long  familiar  with  Diirer's 
wonderful  engraving.  For  years  he  had  a  copy  of 
the  engraving  hung  above  his  desk.  As  he  studied 
it,  he  finally  saw  himself  a  knight  riding  on  through 
the  world ;  and  he  saw  riding  with  him,  not  death 
and  the  devil,  but  two  other  knights.  One  of  the 
knights  was  hideous  to  look,  upon,  and  rode  just  be- 
hind him ;  and  one  w^as  w^onderfully  beautiful  and 
strong,  and  rode  just  ahead  of  him.  And  all  three 
rode  at  full  speed  forever  and  ever,  the  knight,  who 
was  the  man  himself,  in  the  middle,  always  striving 
to  outrun  the  knight  who  was  behind  him,  and  to 
overtake  the  one  before  him.  Finally  he  put  the 
thought  in  verse,  for  it  seemed  to  him  to  represent  the 
life  of  every  human  being  who  was  free  to  live  out  his 
life  as  he  would  wish. 


A  PLACE  IN   THE  SUN  117 


THE    QUEST 


A  knight  fared  on  through  a  beautiful  world 

On  a  mission  to  him  unknown ; 
At  his  left  and  a  little  behind  there  rode 

The  self  of  his  deeds  alone. 

At  his  right  and  a  length  before  sped  on  — 

Him  none  but  the  knight  might  see  — 
A  braver  heart  and  a  purer  soul, 

The  self  that  he  longed  to  be. 

And  ever  the  three  rode  on  through  the  world 

With  him  at  the  left  behind  ; 
Till  never  the  knight  would  look  at  him, 

Feeble  and  foul  and  blind. 

Desperately  on  they  drave,  these  three, 

With  him  at  the  right  before, 
While  the  knight  rode  furiously  after  him 

And  thought  of  the  world  no  more. 

Forever  on  he  must  ride  on  his  quest 

And  peace  can  be  his  no  more, 
Till  the  one  at  his  left  he  has  dropped  from  sight 

And  o'ertaken  the  one  before. 

Thus  ages  ago  the  three  fared  on, 

And  on  they  fare  to-day, 
With  him  at  the  left  a  little  behind, 

The  right  still  leading  the  way. 

This  knight  seeks  not  a  place  in  the  sun  but  a  change 
in  himself,  to  become  a  better,  a  braver,  a  truer  knight. 


US  Li:sT  \\v:  ix)iu;et 

Then,  wherever  lie  may  he,  he  will  find  his  place  in 
the  sun  ;  and  that  nation  whose  people  seek  to  grow 
wiser  and  better  and  nobler  will  always  find  "the 
sun's  rays  falling  fruitfully"  upon  them. 

To  win  prosperity  and  liappiness  through  becoming 
abler  and  better  i^eople,  under  a  government  w^iich 
will  do  all  it  can  to  aid  them,  because  it  is  ''a  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people," 
is  the  ideal  for  which  the  Allies  fight. 

"WTiat  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?" 


It  is  for  U6,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here 
to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us 
to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before 
us  —  that  from  these  honored  dead,  we  take  increased 
devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion  —  that  w^e  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — ^that  this 
nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom 
—  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


MARSHAL   JOFFRE 

THE  greatest  leaders  in  history  are  often  men 
who  for  the  larger  part  of  their  lives  have 
been  almost  unknown.  Poor,  simple  in  their  habits, 
but  loyal  and  true  of  heart,  they  have  risen  from 
obscurity  to  positions  they  alone  could  fill,  and  then 
through  their  devotion  and  achievement  have  become 
the  heroes  of  the  people. 

Lincoln,  the  greatest  example  and  inspiration  to 
American  hearts,  was  in  his  youth  such  a  simple 
and  obscure  person.  The  Pilgrim  fathers,  the  early 
pioneers  in  the  West,  the  great  inventors  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  improvements  in  the  world  of  business,  travel, 
and  communication,  were  nearly  all  of  them  unknown 
for  the  greater  part  of  their  lives,  but  were  men  of 
true  hearts  and  of  strong  purposes. 

Unattractive,  ungainly  in  appearance,  unpopular 
save  among  those  who  knew  him  well,  but  with  the 
strength  of  will  and  soul  born  of  the  simple,  true  life 
he  had  lived,  Lincoln  rose  step  by  step  to  seats  of 
power  until  he  sat  at  length  in  the  highest  of  all.  By 
that  calmness  and  vision  which  belong  to  such  great 
men,  Lincoln  saved  the  nation  from  failure  and  cor- 

119 


Copyright  by  Undcrwuud  &  Underwood.  N.  Y. 

Marshal  Joseph  Jacques  Joffre 

Marshal  Joffre  is  holding  the  golden  miniature  Liberty  Statue  presented  to  him 
when  he  visited  New  York  City  in  1917 


120 


MARSHAL  JOFFRE  121 

ruption.  He  must  have  foreseen  the  great  nation 
into  which  the  United  States  might  grow,  if  only 
he  could  rescue  it  from  the  terrible  ravages  of  war 
and  reunite  the  people  with  one  strong,  common  soul. 

We  Americans,  b}^  thinking  of  such  a  leader  as 
Lincoln,  may  more  clearly  appreciate  what  it  meant 
to  France  in  this  World  War  to  follow  on  to  victory 
with  such  a  leader  as  Joseph  Jacques  Joffre. 

Mc.rshal  Joffre  was  born  in  1852  and  lived  for  years 
in  Rivesaltes,  a  little  town  near  the  boundary  between 
France  and  Spain.  His  ancestors  for  generations  had 
been  farmers,  and  his  father  was  a  cooper  by  trade. 
The  boy  was  a  sweet-tempered,  modest,  intelligent,  blue- 
eyed,  and  blonde-haired  youth.  He  suffered  somewhat 
from  his  school-fellows,  as  any  boy  does  who  is  popular 
with  his  teachers.  But  he  was  industrious,  wide- 
awake, and  interested  in  a  great  many  things,  mathe- 
matics probably  being  the  subject  in  which  he  excelled. 
Trained  by  thrifty  peasant  parents,  he  acquired  regular 
habits  which  were  valuable  to  him  all  his  life  long. 
Even  in  this  World  War,  when  great  responsibility 
pressed  upon  him,  he  rarely  failed  to  retire  by  nine 
or  ten  at  night  and  to  rise  at  five  in  the  morning. 
Before  six  each  morning,  he  was  out  for  a  short,  brisk 
walk  or  for  a  ride  on  his  horse. 

When  he  was  only  fifteen  years  old,  he  astonished 
his  parents  by  announcing  his  intention  to  try  for 
entrance   to   the   Ecole   Polytechnique    in    Paris,    a 


122  LEST   WE   FORGET 

great  training  school  for  militarj'  officers.  Such  a 
plan  seemed,  not  only  to  his  parents,  but  to  his  man}- 
friends,  much  too  ambitious  for  a  barrel-maker's  son. 
But  he  insisted  on  tryin*;-  the  examination  and  passed 
fourteenth  in  a  class  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-two. 
His  sister,  for  whom  JofTre  always  had  a  great  afTec- 
tion,  declared  that  he  would  have  secured  a  higher 
rank  if  he  had  not  passed  such  a  poor  examination 
in  German,  a  language  for  which  he  evidently  had  a 
strong  dislike.  Those  who  have  seen  his  examination 
papers  say  that  they  are  models  of  neatness,  clear 
thinking,  and  accuracy. 

Because  of  his  high  standing,  Joffre  was  made  ser- 
geant of  his  class  at  the  Ecole  Poly  technique.  This 
honor,  which  made  him  responsible  for  the  order  and 
behavior  of  his  own  classmates,  was  rather  an  em- 
barrassing one,  for  he  was  not  of  a  domineering  nature, 
and  was  besides  the  youngest  boy  in  the  hall.  He 
found  great  difficulty  in  exercising  his  authority  over 
these  dozen  or  so  lively  youths,  though  he  was  destined 
one  day  to  be  given  command  over  more  than  three 
million  men. 

By  hard  work  he  made  good  progress  in  his  studies. 
But  he  did  not  finish  his  course,  for  in  1870  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  broke  out.  Joffre,  but  eighteen  years 
of  age,  was  made  a  sub-Ueutenant  in  a  Paris  fort. 
That  terrible  year  left  ics  impression  upon  him  for 
life.     He  felt  the  greatest  agony  at  the  loss  of  beau- 


MARSHAL  JOFFRE  123 

tifiil  Alsace-Lorraine  —  a  part  of  his  own  beloved 
country,  taken  by  the  enemy.  From  that  time  he 
lived  with  one  hope  —  that  he  might  some  day  be  of 
service  in  setting  right  that  wrong,  in  getting  back 
for  France  that  which  had  been  stolen  from  her.  He 
once  said,  ''I  have  seen  1870.  I  have  given  my  life 
utterly  to  see  that  it  did  not  happen  again."  Thus, 
it  has  been  said:  ^'The  formula  for  Joffre  is  easy  to 
find.  It  is  a  number ;  it  is  a  date ;  it  is  1870."  What 
he  saw  at  that  time  shaped  his  purposes  for  the  future. 

Joffre  is  not  only  a  thinker,  but  a  man  of  action. 
He  thinks  hard  for  a  time,  and  then  feels  compelled 
to  put  his  thoughts  into  action.  The  story  is  told 
of  how  Confucius,  upon  leaving  a  funeral  service, 
presented  his  horse  to  the  chief  mourner.  When 
asked  why  he  did  so,  he  replied,  ^'I  wept  with  that 
man  and  so  I  felt  I  ought  to  do  something  for  him." 
Joffre  thought  long  and  hard  and  then  wanted  to 
do  something. 

After  the  war  of  1870,  he  went  into  the  engineering 
corps  of  the  army  and  for  fifteen  years  served  well 
in  building  barracks  and  fortifications.  Then  he 
asked  to  go  to  Indo-China  where  France  was  waging 
a  colonial  war.  He  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant, 
and  at  the  end  of  three  years  returned  a  captain,  with 
the  Legion  of  Honor. 

He  was  made  a  member  of  the  staff  of  administra- 
tion of  the  engineering  corps,  and  while  in  this  service 


124  LEST   WE   FORGET 

it  was  said  of  him:  "JolTre  is  good  at  all  jobs.  He 
will  ho  iiood  for  the  hig  job  some  day." 

In  1S92  ho  went  to  Africa  to  build  a  railroad.  While 
working  at  that,  news  came  that  Colonel  Bonnier  and 
his  party  of  Frenchmen  had  been  attacked  and  many 
of  them  massacred  b}^  the  natives  near  Timbuctoo. 
JofTre  organized  a  rescuing  expedition  (which  has  ever 
since  been  held  up  as  a  model),  took  possession  of 
Timbuctoo,  and  subdued  the  tribes;  then  went  back 
and  finished  his  railroad.  When  he  returned  to  France 
this  time  he  w^as  a  colonel,  having  risen  one  degree  in 
the  Legion  of  Honor. 

After  three  years  he  was  sent  to  Madagascar,  where 
he  built  such  excellent  defenses  that  upon  his  return 
he  was  made  head  of  the  French  military  engineering 
corps.  He  then  had  the  task  of  preparing  the  forts 
of  France.  He  built  the  forts  of  Belfort,  Epinal, 
Toul,  and  Verdun,  all  of  which  victoriously  with- 
stood the  German  attacks  in  the  World  War. 

By  this  time,  Joffre  w^as  a  general.  He  practiced 
at  handling  troops  in  the  field  until  he  knew  all  the 
tactics  in  moving  great  bodies  of  men.  He  became 
chief  of  such  matters  as  transportation,  armament, 
and  mobilization. 

Yet  all  this  time  Joffre  was  almost  entirely  unknown 
among  the  French  people.  Quiet,  almost  shy,  a  man 
of  few  words,  he  was  not  one  to  call  attention  to  him- 
self.    Onlv  those  who  w^ere  close  to  him  knew  him 


MARSHAL  JOFFRE  125 

and  his  great  ability.  Late  in  life  he  had  married  a 
widow  with  two  beautiful  daughters.  He  lived  with 
them  very  quietty  in  Auteuil  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris. 
Here  the  great  chief  loved  to  gather  his  family  about 
the  piano  and  enjoy  their  companionship  and  an 
evening  of  music.  He  could  often  be  seen  mornings, 
walking  with  his  two  beloved  daughters.  Always  he 
was  a  kind,  thoughtful,  gentle,  often  silent  man,  and, 
being  silent,  he  had  also  the  virtue  of  being  a  good 
listener.  For  he  hated  empty  words,  though  he  talked 
long  enough  when  he  had  something  to  say.  He  spoke 
with  the  greatest  simplicity,  however,  and  was  always 
very  gentle  and  courteous  in  his  manners. 

The  officers  of  the  staff  of  eleven  men  who  directed 
the  military  affairs  of  the  country,  of  which  staff 
Joffre  was  a  member,  valued  and  esteemed  him  highly. 
It  was  from  among  the  men  of  this  staff  that  a  com- 
mander in  chief  would  be  chosen  in  case  of  war. 

But  when  the  time  came  in  1911  to  reorganize  the 
army  and  appoint  a  commander  in  chief,  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  the  French  people  turned  toward  General 
Pau,  the  one-armed  hero  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War. 
While  they  were  eagerly  waiting  to  applaud  his  pro- 
motion, they  were  informed  that  General  Joseph 
Joffre  had  accepted  the  appointment.  General  Pau 
had  refused  the  position,  saying,  '^No  patriotic  French- 
man has  any  right  to  accept  this  when  such  a  man  as 
Joffre  is  available." 


126  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Joffro  hatl  a  great  deal  of  opposition  to  face.  Un- 
pleasant comments  were  made,  and  worse  than  all, 
France  herself  was  filled  with  all  sorts  of  political 
and  social  evils. 

Germany,  as  all  France  knew,  was  planning  to  dash 
across  the  border,  and  that  before  very  long.  But 
Jofifre  determined  that,  should  his  country  be  attacked 
from  bej'ond  the  Rhine,  it  would  be  defended. 

Joffre  was  now  fifty-nine  3'ears  old  with  his  blonde 
hair  and  eyebrows  grown  white.  His  large  head, 
square  face  and  jaw,  his  great  and  powerful  frame, 
suggested  strength,  vigor,  and  a  marvelous  ability 
for  leadership.  His  first  act  was  to  place  General 
Pau,  whom  he  recognized  as  a  very  able  man,  in  the 
next  highest  command. 

Assisted  by  President  Poincar^  and  ]\Iillerand, 
Minister  of  War,  he  set  out  to  reform  the  army.  There 
prevailed  a  system  of  spying,  by  which  officers  were 
privately  watched  and  reported  for  disloyaltj^  upon 
the  least  suspicion.  Joffre  destroyed  this  system  en- 
tirely and  announced  that  all  officers  w^ould  be  ap- 
pointed purely  on  the  basis  of  merit.  He  dismissed 
several  generals,  some  of  them  his  own  personal  friends, 
because  they  were  incompetent.  They  were  generals 
who  were  either  too  old,  or  who  could  not  act  quickly 
and  efficiently  in  the  field,  even  though  thej^  were 
good  thinkers.  This  caused  him  some  unhappy  hours, 
but  he  did  it  for  France.     He  promoted  men  who  sue- 


MARSHAL  JOFFRE  127 

cessfully  performed  their  duties.  He  made  excellent 
preparation  in  the  new  departments  created  by  modern 
science  and  inventions,  —  telephones,  automobiles,  and 
aeroplanes.  Altogether  he  put  system  and  order  into 
everything,  aroused  a  soul  in  his  army,  and  created  a 
new  spirit  in  France. 

A  year  before  the  war  came,  Germany  had  720,000 
men  ready  to  march  into  France.  Joffre,  with  re- 
markable skill,  raised  his  army  in  numbers  to  about 
600,000.  Even  so  they  were  greatly  outnumbered, 
but  Joffre  knew  that  all  depended  on  their  ability, 
for  the  first  few  weeks,  to  withstand  the  expected 
onrush  of  German  troops.  So  he  organized  them 
carefully,  and  best  of  all,  put  into  their  hearts  the 
belief  that  'Hhere  is  something  which  triumphs  over 
all  hesitations,  which  governs  and  decides  the  impulses 
of  a  great  and  noble  democracy  like  France,  —  the 
will  to  live  strong  and  free,  and  to  remain  mistress 
of  our  destinies."  This  spirit  in  Joffre  and  in  the 
other  French  leaders  made  France  powerful  in  those 
first  fateful  days.  It  was  the  same  spirit  which  Joffre 
later  imparted  to  his  men  on  the  eve  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Marne,  the  spirit  which  made  that  battle  re- 
sult in  victory  for  France.  As  the  men  on  that  Sep- 
tember evening  gathered  about  their  officers  and 
listened  to  the  reading  of  Joffre 's  message,  Joffre 's 
spirit  itself  took  possession  of  every  one  of  them. 

''Advance,"  the  order  read,   ''and  when  you   can 


128  LEST   WE   FORGET 

no  longer  advance,  hold  at  all  costs  what  you  have 
gained.     If  you  can  no  longer  hold,  die  on  the  spot." 

JofTre  was  careful  not  to  make  any  decisions  until 
he  liad  thought  the  question  over  deeply,  but  once 
made,  his  decisions  were  immediately  carried  out. 
When  he  ordered  a  retreat,  he  knew  the  reason,  and 
his  men  trusted  him  and  followed  his  orders  im- 
plicitly. The  people  of  France,  too,  came  to  love  and 
trust  this  great  general  of  theirs. 

When  the  German  army,  fairly  on  its  way  to  Paris, 
suddenl}^  met  the  greatest  defeat  Germany  had  known 
since  the  days  of  Napoleon,  the  villagers  near  Auteuil, 
where  JofTre  had  hh  home,  came  and  covered  the  steps 
of  his  house  with  flowers.  This  was  the  first  tribute 
of  the  people  to  the  man  who  had  saved  the  nation, 
and  it  showed  their  confidence  in  the  future  of  the 
country  as  long  as  it  should  rest  in  the  hands  of  Joseph 
Jacques  Joffre. 

Thus,  from  the  unknown  man  who  in  1911  had  been 
exalted  to  a  great  and  responsible  position,  Joffre 
quickly  became  known  and  loved  by  all  the  people  of 
France  as  ''Our  Joffre,"  He  was  later  retired  from 
active  service  with  the  highest  military  rank.  Marshal 
of  France. 


THE  HUN  TARGET  — THE  RED  CROSS 

ALL  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world  have  agreed 
to  respect  the  Red  Cross,  believing  that  when 
men  are  carried  from  the  battlefield  wounded  or  dying, 
it  is  inhuman  to  war  upon  them  further.  But  the 
agreement  to  this  by  Germany,  like  all  other  German 
agreements,  became  only  "a  scrap  of  paper"  when 
the  Hun  leaders  thought  they  saw  an  advantage  in 
tearing  it  up. 

Germany  is  also  the  only  nation  claiming  to  be 
civilized  that  kills  its  prisoners  when  it  thinks  best. 
When  the  Kaiser  told  the  German  soldiers  going  to 
China  to  take  no  prisoners,  he  meant  that  they  should 
kill  them. 

Frightfulness  was  not  a  sudden  afterthought  on 
the  part  of  the  Germans,  arising  in  the  excitement 
of  war.  It  was  deliberately  planned  and  taught  to 
the  German  officers  and  soldiers.  The  manual  pre- 
pared for  their  use  in  land  warfare  contains  the  rules 
which  are  to  guide  them.  Among  the  directions 
are  these :  Endeavor  to  destroy  all  the  enemies'  in- 
tellectual and  material  resources.  The  methods  which 
kill  the  greatest  number  at  once  are  permitted.     Force 

129 


130  LEST   WK   FUKCJET 

the  inhabitants  to  furnish  information  against  their 
own  arniies  and  their  own  people.  Prisoners  may  be 
killed  in  case  of  necessity.  Any  wrong,  no  matter 
how  great,  that  will  help  to  victory  is  allowed. 

How  the  Germans  carried  out  the  ''Rules  for  Land 
Warfare"  is  well  showai  by  the  proclamation  posted 
by  General  von  Biilow  in  the  streets  of  Namur  on 
August  25,  1914.     It  read  as  follows : 

Before  four  o'clock  all  Belgian  and  French  soldiers  must  be 
turned  over  to  us  as  prisoners  of  war.  Citizens  who  fail  to  do 
this  will  be  sentenced  to  hard  labor  for  life  in  Germany.  At  four 
o'clock  all  the  houses  in  the  city  will  be  searched.  Every  soldier 
found  will  be  shot.  Ten  hostages  will  be  taken  for  each  street 
and  held  by  German  guards.  If  there  is  any  trouble  in  any 
street,  the  hostages  for  that  street  will  be  shot.  Any  crime 
against  the  German  army  may  bring  about  the  destruction  of 
the  entire  city  and  every  one  in  it. 

Frightfulness  w^as  taught  not  only  to  officers  and 
soldiers  but  to  all  the  German  people,  and  especially 
to  the  children  in  the  schools.  One  of  the  selections 
read  and  recited,  even  in  the  primary  schools  of  Ger- 
many before  the  war,  was  "The  Hymn  of  Hate"  by 
a  German  poet,  which  in  English  prose  is  in  substance 
as  follows : 

Hate !  Germany !  hate !  Cut  the  throats  of  your  hordes  of 
enemies.  Put  on  your  armor  and  with  your  bayonets  pierce  the 
heart  of  every  one  of  them.  Take  no  prisoners.  Strike  them 
dead.     Change  their  fertile  lands  into  deserts.     Hate !  Germany ! 


THE   HUN   TARGET  — THE  RED   CROSS  131 

hate !  Victory  will  come  from  your  rage  and  hate.  Break  the 
skulls  of  your  enemies  with  blows  from  your  axes  and  the  butts 
of  your  guns.  They  are  timid,  cowardly  beasts.  They  are  not 
men.     Let  your  mailed  fist  execute  the  judgment  of  God. 

A  German  general  told  Edith  Cavell,  when  she  was 
pleading  in  behalf  of  some  homeless  Belgian  women 
and  children,  ''Pity  is  a  waste  of  feeling  —  a  moral 
parasite  injurious  to  the  health." 

The  whole  idea  of  the  German  War  Book  is  given 
in  the  statement  made  by  a  great  German : 

''True  strategy  means  to  hit  your  enemy  and  to 
hit  him  hard,  to  inflict  on  the  inhabitants  of  invaded 
towns  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  suffering,  so 
that  they  shall  become  tired  of  the  struggle  and  cry 
for  peace.  You  must  leave  the  people  of  the  country 
through  which  you  march  only  their  eyes  to  weep 
with." 

And  these  rules  and  teachings  came  at  a  time  when 
nations  were  seeking  to  do  away  with  war  forever 
and  were  agreeing  upon  rules  that,  if  war  should 
come,  would  make  it  less  horrible  and  that  would 
in  particular  spare  non-combatants. 

A  German  soldier  wrote  to  the  American  minister, 
Mr.  Gerard,  early  in  the  war  while  Mr.  Gerard  was 
still  in  Berlin  : 

To  the  American  Government,  Washington,  U.  S.  A. : 

Englishmen  who  have  surrendered  are  shot  down  in  small 
groups.     With  the  French  one  is  more  considerate.     I  ask  whether 


132  LEST   WE   FORGET 

men  let  themselves  be  taken  prisoner  in  order  to  be  disarmed  and 
shot  down  afterwards?     Is  that  chivalry  in  battle? 

It  is  no  longer  a  secret  among  the  people ;  one  hears  every- 
where that  few  prisoners  are  taken;  they  arc  shot  down  in  small 
groups.  They  say  naively:  "We  tlon't  want  anj^  unnecessary 
mouths  to  feed.  Where  there  is  no  one  to  enter  complaint,  there 
is  no  judge."  Is  there,  then,  no  power  in  the  world  which  can 
put  an  end  to  these  murders  and  rescue  the  victims?  Where  is 
Christianity?     Where  is  right?     Might  is  right. 

A  Soldier  and  a  Man  Who  Is  No  Barbarian. 

On  October  25,  1914,  a  small  party  of  German 
soldiers  succeeded  in  entering  Dixmude  and  cap- 
turing the  commander  of  the  French  marines  defend- 
ing the  town,  and  some  of  his  men.  It  was  a  dark 
night  and  raining  hard,  and  although  the  Germans 
had  been  able  to  get  through  the  lines  into  the  city 
and  to  capture  Commander  Jeanniot  and  a  few  of  his 
men ,  they  were  unable  to  find  a  way  back  through  the 
lines  and  out  of  the  city.  They  wandered  about  in 
the  rain  and  mud  for  nearly  four  hours,  driving  the 
captured  French  marines  before  them  with  the  butts 
of  their  rifles.  Day  was  dawning  and  there  was  no 
chance  for  them  to  escape  in  a  body  in  the  daytime. 
So  the  officers  halted  them  behind  a  hedge  and 
directed  them  to  scatter. 

Then  the  question  arose  as  to  what  they  should  do 
with  their  prisoners.  The  majority  voted  that  they 
should  be  put  to  death,  and  at  a  sign  from  their  leader, 
the  Boches  knelt  and  opened  fire  upon  the  prisoners; 


THE  HUN  TARGET  — THE  RED   CROSS         133 

who  knew  nothing  of  what  was  being  planned.  They 
were  all  killed,  including  the  commander,  except  one, 
who  was  hit  only  in  the  shoulder.  Before  the  Ger- 
mans could  put  him  to  death,  a  party  of  French  marines 
discovered  them.  The  whole  band  was  taken  prisoner 
and  brought  before  the  Admiral,  who  sentenced  three 
of  the  leaders  to  be  executed.  To  have  killed  them 
all  when  they  were  taken  would  have  seemed  only 
too  good  for  them,  but  the  French  are  not  a  barbarian 
but  a  law-abiding  people. 

Germany  believes  she  can  win  in  war  by  making 
it  so  '^ frightful"  that  none  but  Germans  can  be  strong 
enough  to  endure  it.  So  among  other  atrocities,  Ger- 
many has  used  the  red  cross  on  hospitals  and  hospital 
ships  as  a  mark  to  guide  them  in  dropping  bombs  and 
in  aiming  torpedoes.  The  Roumanian  Minister  of  the 
Interior  stated  to  the  United  States  government  the 
following : 

Because  of  the  action  of  Germany  and  her  alHes,  it  has  been 
found  advisable  to  remove  the  Red  Cross  conspicuously  painted 
on  the  top  of  the  hospital  buildings,  because  it  served  as  a  special 
mark  for  the  bombs,  etc.,  from  aeroplanes. 

Germany  also  believes,  without  doubt,  that  killing 
wounded  who  may  otherwise  recover  and  go  back 
into  service  will  reduce  the  man  power  of  her  enemies, 
who,  she  thinks,  are  too  Christianlike,  too  merciful, 
too  faithful  to  their  agreements  to  do  likewise.     Bomb- 


131  LEST   WE   F0KC;ET 

iiig  hospitals  and  killing  luirsos  and  doctors  will  also 
make  it  likely  that  more  wounded  will  die  through 
lack  of  care  and  treatment.  She  knows  that  every 
hospital  ship  sunk  means  another  must  be  taken  to 
replace  it  from  those  carrying  food  or  troops. 

There  is  no  mistake  about  her  intentions,  although 
she  did  at  first  offer  lying  excuses.  She  has  dropped 
*' flares,"  great  burning  torches,  at  night  to  be  sure 
that  the  red  cross  w'as  there  and  then  dropped  her  * 
bombs  upon  the  hospital.  She  has  killed  many  non- 
combatants  in  this  way. 

Germany  has  torpedoed,  during  the  first  four  years 
of  the  war,  hospital  ships  with  the  big  red  crosses 
painted  on  their  sides  and  all  lights  burning  at  night 
(to  show  they  were  hospital  ships),  amounting  to  a 
total  tonnage  of  over  200,000  tons.  The  torpedo 
that  sank  the  Rewa  without  w'arning  hit  the  German 
target,  the  red  cross,  exactly.  Germany  torpedoed 
the  hospital  ship  Britannic,  50,000  tons,  the  largest 
British  ship  afloat,  partly,  without  doubt,  so  that  she 
could  not  compete  with  German  ships  after  the  war. 

The  first  hospital  ship  destroyed  by  the  Huns  was 
the  Portugal,  sunk  by  a  German  submarine  while 
she  was  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Black  Sea.  One  of 
the  survivors  described  the  sinking  as  follows . 

The  Portugal  was  sinking  at  the  place  where  she  was  broken 
in  two,  her  stern  and  stem  going  up  higher  all  the  time  as  she 
settled  amidships.     All  around  me  unfortunate  Sisters  of  Mercy 


THE   HUN   TARGET  — THE   RED   CROSS  135 

were  screaming  for  help.  The  deck  became  more  down-sloping 
every  minute  and  I  rolled  off  into  the  water  between  the  two 
halves  of  the  sinking  steamer.  It  so  happened  that  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  water  somewhat  abated  and  I  succeeded  in  swim- 
ming up  again.  I  glanced  around.  The  Portugal  was  no  more. 
Nothing  but  broken  pieces  of  wreck,  boxes  which  had  contained 
medicaments,  materials  for  dressings,  and  provisions,  were  float- 
ing about.  Everywhere  I  could  see  the  heads  and  arms  of  people 
battling  with  the  waves,  and  their  shrieks  for  help  were  frightful. 
The  hospital  ship  Portugal  was  painted  white,  with  a  red  border 
all  around.  The  funnels  were  white  with  red  crosses  and  a  Red 
Cross  flag  was  on  the  mast.  These  distinguishing  signs  were 
plainly  visible  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  they 
could  be  perfectly  well  seen  by  the  men  in  the  submarine.  The 
conduct  of  the  submarine  proves  that  the  men  in  it  knew  that 
they  had  to  do  with  a  hospital  ship.  The  fact  of  the  submarine's 
having  moved  so  slowly  shows  the  enemy  was  conscious  of  being 
quite  out  of  danger. 

Eighty-five  lives  were  lost,  including  twenty-one 
nuns  who  were  serving  as  nurses. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that,  according  to  the 
Germans,  God  is  on  their  side,  some  power  for  good 
saved  most  of  those  on  the  hospital  ship  Asturias. 
She  did  not  sink  when  struck  by  the  torpedo,  but  she 
was  rendered  helpless  by  the  loss  of  her  rudder.  There 
was  no  sandy  beach  in  sight,  so  the  captain  tried  to 
guide  her  near  the  rocky  shore  where,  if  she  sank, 
perhaps  some  might  reach  land,  but  he  found  he 
could  not  guide  the  ship.  It  was  dark  night,  but 
guided    by   some    unseen   power   she   dodged   a    reef 


136  LEST   \\K    FOlidET 

ujion  whicli  slio  would  have  gone  to  pieces,  rounded 
a  headland,  and  beached  herself  upon  the  onl}'  piece 
of  sandy  shore  in  that  vicinity. 

The  English  hospital  shij)  Lanfranc  was  carrying 
many  wounded  Germans  to  England  when  she  was 
torpedoed.  An  English  officer  gave  the  following 
vivid  description  to  a  London  daily  paper: 

The  Lanfranc  was  attacked  by  a  submarine  about  7  :  30  Tues- 
day evening  just  as  we  had  finished  dinner.  A  few  of  us  were 
strolling  to  and  fro  on  the  deck  when  there  was  a  crash  which 
shook  the  liner  violently.  This  was  followed  by  an  explosion, 
and  glass  and  splinters  of  wood  fiew  in  all  directions.  I  had  a 
narrow  escape  from  being  pitched  overboard  and  only  regained 
my  feet  with  difficulty.  In  a  few  minutes  the  engine  had  stopped 
and  the  Lanfranc  appeared  to  be  sinking  rapidly,  but  to  our  sur- 
prise she  steadied  herself  and  after  a  while  remained  perfectly 
motionless.  We  had  on  board  nearly  200  wounded  prisoners 
belonging  to  the  Prussian  Guard,  and  about  twice  as  many 
British  wounded,  many  being  very  bad  cases.  The  moment  the 
torpedo  struck  the  Lanfranc,  many  of  the  slightly  wounded 
Prussians  made  a  mad  rush  for  the  lifeboats.  One  of  their 
ofiicers  came  up  to  a  boat  close  to  which  I  was  standing.  I 
shouted  to  him  to  go  back,  whereupon  he  stood  and  scowled. 
"You  must  save  us,"  he  begged.     I  told  him  to  wait  his  turn. 

Meanwhile  the  crew  and  the  staff  had  gone  to  their  posts. 
The  stretcher  cases  were  brought  on  deck  as  quickly  as  possible 
and  the  first  boats  were  lowered  without  delay.  Help  had  been 
summoned,  and  many  vessels  were  hurrjang  to  our  assistance. 
In  these  moments,  while  wounded  Tommies  —  many  of  them  as 
helpless  as  httle  children  —  lay  in  their  cots  unaided,  the  Prussian 


THE  HUN  TARGET  — THE  RED   CROSS         137 

morale  dropped  to  zero.  They  made  another  crazy  effort  to  get 
into  a  lifeboat.  They  managed  to  crowd  into  one,  but  no  sooner 
had  it  been  lowered  than  it  toppled  over.  The  Prussians  were 
thrown  into  the  water,  and  they  fought  each  other  in  order  to 
reach  another  boat  containing  a  number  of  gravely  wounded 
soldiers. 

The  behavior  of  our  own  lads  I  shall  never  forget.  Crippled 
as  many  of  them  were,  they  tried  to  stand  at  attention  while  the 
more  serious  cases  were  being  looked  after.  And  those  who  could 
lend  a  hand  hurried  below  to  help  in  saving  friend  or  enemy.  I 
have  never  seen  so  many  individual  illustrations  of  genuine 
chivalry  and  comradeship.  One  man  I  saw  had  had  a  leg  severed 
and  his  head  was  heavily  bandaged.  He  was  lifting  himself  up  a 
staircase  by  the  hands  and  was  just  as  keen  on  summoning  help 
for  Fritz  as  on  saving  himself.  He  whistled  to  a  mate  to  come 
and  aid  a  Prussian  who  was  unable  to  move  owing  to  internal 
injuries.  Another  Tommy  limped  painfully  along  with  a  Prussian 
officer  on  his  arm,  and  helped  the  latter  to  a  boat.  It  is  im- 
possible to  give  adequate  praise  to  the  crew  and  staff.  They 
were  all  heroes.  They  remained  at  their  posts  until  the  last  man 
had  been  taken  off,  and  some  of  them  took  off  articles  of  their 
clothing  and  threw  them  into  the  lifeboats  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  were  in  need  of  warm  clothing.  The  same  spirit 
manifested  itself  as  we  moved  away  from  the  scene  of  outrage. 
I  saw  a  sergeant  take  his  tunic  off  and  make  a  pillow  of  it  for  a 
wounded  German.  There  was  a  private  who  had  his  arms  around 
an  enemy,  trying  hard  to  make  the  best  of  an  uncomfortable 
resting  place. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  tragedy  the  element  of  comedy  was 
not  wanting.  A  cockney  lad  struck  up  a  ditty,  and  the  boat's 
company  joined  in  the  chorus  of  Raymond  Hitchcock's  "All 
Dressed  Up  and  Nowheres  to  Go."     Then  wc  had  "Take    Mo 


i:^S  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Bark  [o  Blighty,"  ami  as  a  French  vessel  came  aloiip;  to  our 
reseue.  the  hoys  saiijl  "Pack  Up  Your  Trouhles  in  Youi-  Old 
Kit-Baji;  ami  SnuU\  Siuiie,  Smile."  The  French  displayed  un- 
forgettable hospit:dit>-.  As  soon  as  they  took  our  wounded  on 
hoanl,  they  improvised  l)eds  and  stripped  themst>lv(>s  almost 
bare  that  English  and  German  alike  might  be  comfortable. 

The  destruction  of  the  Llandovery  Castle  was  as 
bad  or  worse  |;han  those  ah-eady  described.  For  a 
time  the  Huns  ceased  to  sink  hospital  sliips  running 
from  France  to  England,  but  when  they  learned, 
through  spies,  that  the  Warilda  carried  no  Germans, 
she  was  sunk  earh^  in  August,  1918,  with  a  loss  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  doctors,  nurses,  and 
wounded.  After  the  Llandovery  Castle,  after  the 
Warilda,  there  could  be  no  further  German  pretense 
that  Germany  was  waging  any  other  than  a  barbarian 
war. 

Such  inhumanity  seems  like  the  work  of  madmen. 
Is  the  Kaiser  insane?  Are  the  German  war  leaders 
insane?  Or  are  the  German  people,  all,  entirely 
different  from  the  people  we  consider  sane? 

Let  us  remember  that  a  Roman  writer  said  many 
centuries  ago,  "Whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they 
first  make  mad." 

WTien  the  Huns  are  losing,  they  show  themselves 
at  their  very  worst.  When  they  were  winning  in  the 
first  stages  of  the  war,  they  committed  deeds  blacker 
than  those  of  the  barbarians  who  sacked  Rome,  but 


THE  HUN   TARGET  — THE  RED   CROSS         139 

after  the  tide  turned  against  them,  then  they  became 
even  worse  and  began  to  use  the  red  cross  as  a  target 
in  bombing  hospitals  and  torpedoing  hospital  ships. 

Moreover,  at  the  Second  Battle  of  the  Marne,  orders 
were  issued  to  the  German  soldiers,  who  were  being 
driven  back  with  ^reat  loss,  that  seemed  too  inhuman 
even  for  the  modern  Huns.  They  were  as  follows : 
'^  Henceforth  the  enemy  is  not  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
cover his  dead  and  wounded  except  behind  his  own 
position,  even  under  the  Red  Cross  flag.  If  stretcher 
bearers  go  out,  a  warning  shot  is  to  be  fired.  If  no 
attention  is  paid  to  the  shot,  the  enemy  must  be 
thoroughly  engaged  at  once." 

As  the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger  says,  '^This  is 
typical  of  Prussian  militarism.  It  is  precisely  the 
sort  of  thing  that  our  young  men  have  sailed  away 
across  the  Atlantic  to  uproot  and  finally  destroy." 


We  do  pray  for  mercy  ; 
And  that  same  prayer  doth  teach  us  all  to  render 
The  deeds  of  mercy. 

Shakespeare. 


"THEY   SHALL  NOT   PASS" 

THE  caves  described  in  the  Arabian  Nights  are 
not  more  wonderful  than  the  rock  citadel  of 
\'erdun  ;  in  many  ways  they  are  not  so  marvelous. 
The  old  citadel  is  now  like  a  deserted  cave,  but  a 
cave  lighted  by  electricity  and  with  a  passenger  eleva- 
tor to  carry  one  from  the  lowest  floor  to  the  top  of 
the  rock,  a  hundred  feet  above.  In  former  wars  it 
was  a  hive  of  soldiers. 

Blasted  out  of  the  solid  rock-hill  are  rooms,  great 
halls,  passages,  hospitals,  storerooms,  and  barracks. 
The  heaviest  shells  of  the  enemy  fall  harmless  from 
the  natural  rock.  Here,  one  would  think,  a  few 
soldiers  could  hold  the  town  and  the  Meuse  valley 
against  greatly  superior  numbers.  And  this  would 
be  true  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  modern  long- 
range  guns  can  be  placed  by  an  enemy  on  the  sur- 
rounding hills,  once  they  have  won  them,  and  prevent 
food,  ammunition,  or  supplies  being  brought  to  the 
citadel.  Leaving  these  guns  with  enough  men  to 
work  them,  the  great  body  of  the  enemy  could  then 
advance  towards  Paris,  for  the  Meuse  valley  at  Ver- 
dun is  the  highway  from  Metz  to  Paris. 

140 


"THEY  SHALL  NOT  PASS"  141 

The  French  generals  realized  long  ago  that  the  city 
and  the  valley  could  not,  because  of  the  increased 
power  of  big  guns,  be  defended  from  the  citadel. 
So  they  built  great  forts  several  miles  from  the  city 
upon  the  hills  which  surrounded  it,  to  halt  the  Ger- 
mans when  they  should  advance,  as  France  knew  they 
would  when  they  were  ready. 

For  an  army  to  get  from  Germany  into  France  and 
to  the  plains  east  of  Paris,  it  was  necessary  to  pass 
down  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  and  through  Verdun, 
and  for  this  reason  France  spent  vast  sums  of  money 
to  make  these  forts  impregnable. 

After  the  opening  weeks  of  the  World  War  had 
shown  how  easy  it  was  for  the  German  big  guns  to 
destroy  the  finest  modern  forts,  like  those  at  Liege, 
Namur,  and  Antwerp,  the  French  command  removed 
the  garrisons  from  the  forts  protecting  Verdun  and 
placed  them  in  trenches  farther  away  from  the  city 
and  the  citadel,  upon  the  second  range  of  hills. 

There  was  another  way  for  the  Germans  to  reach 
the  plains  of  Champagne  and  of  Chalons,  which  by 
treaty  they  had  agreed  not  to  use.  That  way  was 
through  Belgium.  When  the  Huns  declared  this 
treaty  only  "a  scrap  of  paper"  to  be  torn  up  when- 
ever their  plans  required  it,  and,  to  the  surprise  of 
all  honorable  nations,  went  through  Belgium,  they 
were  soon  able  to  reach  the  plains  east  and  north  of 
Paris,  and  Verdun  ceased  to  be  a  key  position.     Ver- 


142  LK^T   WI-:   FORGET 

dun  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Paris, 
and  the  Germans  were  already  less  than  half  that 
distance  from  the  cit3^  So  when  it  was  learned  that 
the  enemy  had  determined  to  caj^ture  Verdun,  the 
forts  surrounding  it.  and  th(^  highway  through  the 
river  valley,  the  French  command  decided  it  was  not 
worth  holding  at  the  cost  in  lives  that  would  be  neces- 
sary. To  capture  it  would  help  the  Germans  very 
little,  and  to  retire  from  it  would  greatly  improve 
the  French  lines. 

The  Germans  doubtless  realized  that  this  would 
be  the  decision  of  the  French  and  that  they  would 
have  an  easy,  an  almost  bloodless,  victory.  They 
also  knew  that  all  Germans  and  all  Frenchmen  had 
for  centuries  looked  upon  Verdun  as  a  second  Gibral- 
tar and  as  one  of  the  chief  defenses  of  Paris  and  north- 
ern France,  one  which  had  been  made  —  as  the  French 
thought  —  impregnable  by  the  expenditure  of  vast 
sums  of  money.  For  this  reason  the  Germans  believed 
its  loss  would  be  taken  as  a  terrible  blow  by  the  French 
people,  and  would  be  considered  by  the  German  popu- 
lace as  the  greatest  victory  of  the  war.  They  hoped 
it  might  be  the  last  straw,  or  one  of  the  last,  that 
would  break  the  backbone  of  the  French  resistance. 
In  order  to  give  credit  for  this  great  victory  to  their 
future  Kaiser,  the  armies  of  the  Crown  Prince  were 
selected  for  the  easy  task. 

The  French  command,  it  is  said,  had  already  issued 


"THEY  SHALL  NOT  PASS"  143 

the  first  orders  for  the  retreat  to  stronger  positions, 
when  the  French  civic  leaders  realized  Germany's 
game  by  which  she  hoped  to  win  a  great  moral  vic- 
tory and  to  add  to  the  hopes  and  courage  of  the  Ger- 
man people ;  and  although  General  Joffre  believed 
it  was  a  mistake,  the  French  decided  to  remain  just 
where  they  were. 

The  Germans  were  so  sure  of  everything  going  as 
they  had  planned  that  they  had  advertised  their 
coming  victory  in  every  corner  of  Germany  and  even 
in  the  Allied  countries.  When  they  found  they  were 
to  be  opposed,  they  brought  up  larger  forces  and 
when  these  were  not  strong  enough  to  win,  they  in- 
creased them,  until  the  Battle  of  Verdun,  in  which 
the  Germans  lost  nearly  half  a  million  men  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners,  became  probably  the  greatest 
battle  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  continued  for 
six  months. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  this,  the  greatest  of  all  battles, 
was  not  a  conflict  waged  to  secure  some  territory, 
some  river  crossing,  some  fort,  or  some  city  absolutely 
necessary  to  win  further  progress,  but  a  battle  to  add 
strength  to  the  German  mind  and  soul  and  to  weaken 
the  spirit  of  the  French?  Think  of  these  modern 
Huns,  who  believe  in  the  force  of  might  and  of  ma- 
terial things,  fighting  for  a  victory  over  the  spirit, 
which  is  never  really  broken  by  such  things  and  is 
never  conquered  by  them,  but  is  to  be  won  only  by 


144  LEST   WE   FORGET 

justice,  mercy,  friendship,  love,  and  other  spiritual 
forces. 

And  the  French  spirit  did  not  flinch  or  weaken. 
The  French  people  and  the  French  soldiers  said, 
"They  shall  not  pass,"  and  they  did  not  pass.  The 
Germans  brought  their  big  guns  near  enough  to  destroy 
the  city,  but  the  citadel  laughed  at  them.  They  cap- 
tured Fort  Douaumont  and  Fort  Vaux,  but  later  had 
to  give  them  up  to  the  French. 

All  of  Hunland  rejoiced  when  the  Brandenburgers 
captured  Fort  Douaumont,  and  the  disappointment 
of  the  French  people  made  every  one  realize  that  to 
have  given  up  the  city  and  the  citadel  without  a  fight, 
even  though  it  was  wise  from  a  military  point  of  view, 
would  have  been  a  grave  mistake.  But  before  the 
long  battle  was  over,  the  French  soldiers  made  one 
of  their  most  remarkable  charges  back  of  waves  of 
shell  fire  and  swept  the  Germans  from  the  hill  upon 
which  the  fort  was  built.  They  recaptured  the  fort, 
taking  six  thousand  prisoners,  and  sent  thrills  and 
cheers  through  France  and  the  civilized  world. 

Xo,  they  did  not  pass.  The  soul  of  France  with 
her  flaming  sword  stood  in  the  way.  The  Huns  were 
trained  to  fight  things  that  they  could  see,  that  they 
could  touch,  that  they  could  measure,  and  especially 
things  that  they  could  frighten  and  kill.  .  The  soul  of 
France  they  could  not  see,  just  as  they  could  not,  at 
the  opening  of  the  war,  see  or  understand  the  soul  of 


"THEY  SHALL  NOT   PASS"  145 

Belgium,  and  just  as  they  did  not  believe  in  or  compre- 
hend the  soul  of  America,  later.  But  the  soul  of 
France  barred  their  way  and  they  did  not  pass,  for 
they  could  neither  frighten  her  nor  kill  her. 

For  though  the  giant  ages  heave  the  hill 
And  break  the  shore,  and  evermore 
Make  and  break  and  work  their  will ; 
Though  world  on  world  in  myriad  myriads  roll 
Round  us,  each  with  different  powers 
And  other  forms  of  life  than  ours. 
What  know  we  greater  than  the  soul? 


The  right  is  more  precious  than  peace.  We  shall 
fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried 
nearest  our  hearts.  To  such  a  task  we  dedicate  our 
lives. 

WooDRow  Wilson,  1917. 


VERDUN 

SHE  is  a  wall  of  brass ; 
You  shall  not  pass  !    You  shall  not  pass  ! 
Spring  up  like  summer  grass, 
Surge  at  her,  mass  on  mass, 
Still  shall  you  break  like  glass, 
Splinter  and  break  like  shivered  glass, 

But  pass? 

You  shall  not  pass ! 
Germans,  you  shall  not,  shall  not  pass ! 
God's  hand  has  written  on  the  wall  of  brass  — 
You  shall  not  pass  !     You  shall  not  pass ! 

The  valleys  are  quaking, 

The  torn  hills  are  shaking, 

The  earth  and  the  sky  seem  breaking. 

But  unbroken,  undoubting,  a  wonder  and  sign. 

She  stands,  France  stands,  and  still  holds  to  the  line. 

She  counts  her  wounded  and  her  dead  ; 

You  shall  not  pass  ! 
She  sets  her  teeth,  she  bows  her  head  ; 

You  shall  not  pass  I 
Till  the  last  soul  in  the  fierce  line  has  fled, 

You  shall  not  pass ! 

Help  France?     Help  France? 

Who  would  not,  thanking  God  for  this  great  chance, 

Stretch  out  his  hands  and  run  to  succor  France  ? 

Harold  Begbie. 
146 


THE   BEAST   IN   MAN 

A  GERMAN  leader  once  said,  ''The  oldest  right 
in  the  world  is  the  right  of  the  strongest." 
This  is  true  and  will  always  continue  to  be  true  as 
long  as  the  world  is  made  up  only  of  inanimate  matter 
and  lifeless  forces  and  of  living,  thinking  beings  who 
consider  ''the  strongest"  as  meaning  the  powers  or 
things  that  can  cause  the  greatest  destruction  and  the 
most  terrible  evil.  The  beasts  recognize  these  as  the 
strongest,  and  without  question  admit  that  the  oldest 
right  in  the  world  is  the  chief  right  in  the  world. 

But  as  men  have  become  civilized,  they  have  come 
to  fear  destruction,  and  even  the  loss  of  life,  less  and 
less,  and  have  learned  to  feel  the  strength  of  beauty, 
truth,  justice,  mercy,  purity,  and  innocence.  So  it 
comes  to  pass  that  Robert  Burns  mourns  when  his  plow 
turns  under  a  mountain  daisy  or  destroys  the  home 
of  a  field  mouse.  Because  he  feels  the  influence  of  the 
innocent  and  the  helpless,  the  "wee,  modest,  crimson- 
tipped  flower"  and  the  "wee,  sleekit,  cowrin,  tim'rous 
beastie,"  he  gives  us  two  of  the  most  beautiful  poems 
in  the  English  language,  poems  that,  by  the  power 
of  their  tenderness,  truth,  and  beauty,  have  brought 

147 


14S  LEST   WE   FORGET 

tears  to  the  eyes  of  many  a  strong,  brave  man  who 
feared  no  enemy. 

Such  was  the  power  of  Joan  of  Arc  when  she  led 
the  French  soldiers  to  battle  and  to  victory, — simply 
the  power  of  her  belief  and  her  faith,  for  she  was  a 
simple,  untrained  peasant  girl,  knowing  nothing  of 
lunv  battles  are  to  be  won. 

Such  is  the  power  of  the  English  nurse,  Edith  Cavell, 
executed  by  the  Germans  as  a  spy,  because  she  helped 
English  and  Belgians  to  escape  from  the  German 
horrors  in  Belgium  by  crossing  the  line  into  Holland. 

Such  is  the  power  of  the  murdered  mothers  and 
children  on  the  Lusitania,  the  memory  of  whose 
wrongs  cause  English  and  American  soldiers  to  go 
"over  the  top,"  crying  "Lusitania!  Lusitania!" 

Such  is  the  power  of  undaunted  Cardinal  Mercier, 
who  in  the  very  midst  of  German  officers  and  troops, 
denounces  German  atrocities  in  Belgium,  and  yet  is 
himself  untouched. 

The  exercise  of  the  right  of  the  strongest,  the  right 
which  comes  through  might,  brings  about  war.  Gen- 
eral Sherman,  who  knew  the  terrors  of  war  from  what 
he  saw  in  our  Civil  War,  said,  "War  is  hell."  He 
could  not  describe  its  horrors  and  so  he  used  the  one 
word  that  means  to  most  people  the  most  horrible 
state  and  place  in  which  human  beings  can  suffer. 
For  many  years  most  men  have  realized  that  war 
is  the  most  dreadful  scourge  of  the  human  race,  and 


THE  BEAST  IN   MAN  149 

that  it  should  be  abolished.  But  as  is  always  the 
case,  men  cannot  agree,  —  which  is,  of  course,  the 
chief  reason  why  there  are  wars.  In  the  face  of  ter- 
rible calamities,  disasters,  and  great  crises,  men  will 
agree.  Perhaps  the  World  War  will  prove  the  great 
disaster  that  will  lead  men  to  do  away  forever  with 
war. 

For  twenty-five  years  before  the  world's  peace  was 
rudely  broken  by  the  ambitions  of  Germany,  the 
people  of  other  countries  had  been  urgently  seeking 
some  means  of  doing  away  with  war.  Peace  societies 
had  been  organized  and  wealthy  men  had  donated 
money  to  be  used  in  efforts  to  secure  the  permanent 
peace  of  the  world.  A  Peace  Palace  had  been  erected 
at  The  Hague  from  funds  donated  by  the  American 
multi-millionaire,  Andrew  Carnegie,  who  had  also 
set  aside  a  fund  of  $10,000,000  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  the  world  at  peace.  The  Nobel  prize  of 
$40,000  was  awarded  annually  to  the  person  any- 
where in  the  world  who  had  done  the  most  for  peace. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  while  President,  won  this  by 
settling  the  Russian-Japanese  War.  The  Tsar  of 
Russia  had  proposed  at  one  of  the  conferences  of 
nations  held  at  the  Peace  Palace  that  the  nations 
should  gradually  do  away  with  military  preparations. 
We  can  see  now  why  all  these  efforts  failed.  Ger- 
many had  her  mind  and  heart  set  on  war  and  on 
conquering  the  world. 


I.^o  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Mcx'^t  men  agree  that  war  is  unnecessary,  and  before 
{\\c  Cierniaii  attack  ii]")on  Belgium  and  u]")on  the  liberty 
of  the  workl,  many  leaders  of  thought  in  other  coun- 
tries were  sure  a  great  war  could  never  occur  in  modern 
times.  One  group  argued  that  its  cost  in  money 
would  l)e  so  great  that  no  nation  could  meet  it  for 
more  than  a  few  months.  But  the  United  States  is, 
in  1918,  spending  nearly  $50,000,000  a  day  for  war, 
and  she  can  continue  to  do  so  for  some  years,  if  neces- 
sary. The  cost  in  dollars  will  never  prevent  war  nor 
make  a  great  war  a  very  brief  one. 

But  think  of  what  the  cost  of  the  war  for  one  year 
would  accomplish  if  spent  for  the  purposes  of  peace, 
for  construction  instead  of  destruction.  Ten  billion 
dollars,  the  approximate  cost  of  the  war  for  the 
United  States  for  the  year  1918,  if  put  at  interest  at 
four  per  cent,  would  earn  $400,000,000,  or  about  the 
cost  of  the  Panama  Canal.  This  interest  would  send 
500,000  3"oung  men  and  women  to  college  each  year,  and 
pay  all  their  necessary  expenses.  It  would  do  aw^ay  with 
all  the  slums  and  poverty  of  our  great  cities.  If  the 
cost  to  one  nation  for  one  year  w^ould,  as  a  permanent 
fund,  accomplish  this,  it  is  easy  to  realize  that  the 
world  could  almost  be  made  an  ideal  one  in  w^hich  to 
live,  if  the  money  that  all  the  nations  spend  upon  the 
World  War  could  have  been  saved  and  made  a  perma- 
nent fund  for  the  betterment  of  world  conditions. 

Another  group  said,  "  Modern  science  has  made  war 


THE  BEAST  IN   MAN  151 

SO  terrible  and  so  destructive  that  men  will  not  take 
part  in  it,  or  if  this  is  not  true  now,  it  soon  will  be." 
When  we  think  of  what  has  occurred  and  is  occurring 
every  day  in  the  present  war,  this  seems  also  unlikely. 
When  we  read  of  guns  that  will  carry  a  shell  weigh- 
ing a  ton  for  over  twenty-five  miles  which  will,  when 
it  explodes,  destroy  everything  within  an  eighth  of 
a  mile,  and  of  guns  less  destructive  that  will  carry 
over  seventy -five  miles,  almost  wholly  destroying  a 
church  and  killing  sixty-five  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren ;  when  we  read  of  bombs  dropped  from  the  sky, 
killing  innocent  women  and  children,  hundreds  of 
miles  from  the  field  of  battle ;  of  the  terrible  work  of 
poison  gases  and  of  liquid  fire ;  of  battles  above  the 
clouds  from  which  men  fall  to  death  in  blazing  air- 
planes, and  of  battles  beneath  the  waves  in  which  men 
sink  in  submarines  to  be  suffocated  to  death ;  of  an 
entire  ridge  being  undermined  and  blown  up  by  tons  of 
dynamite,  with  an  explosion  heard  nearly  one  hundred 
miles  away  and  killing  thousands  :  how  can  we  believe 
that  war  is  likely  soon  to  become  so  terrible  that  men 
will  not  engage  in  it,  if  they  are  willing  to  do  so  now  ?  Sir 
Gilbert  Parker  well  says:  ''Guns  have  been  invented 
before  which  the  stoutest  fortresses  shrivel  into  fiery 
dust;  shells  destroy  men  in  platoons,  blow  them  to 
pieces,  bury  them  alive ;  death  pours  from  the  clouds 
and  spouts  upward  through  the  sea;  motor-power 
hurls  armies  of  men  on  points  of  attack  in   masses 


\52  LEST   WE   FORGET 

nvvcv  hitliorto  cmployod  ;  concealment  is  made  well 
ni«;li  impossible.  These  thinjiis,  however,  have  but 
made  war  more  difficult  and  dreadful ;  they  have  not 
made  it  impossible.  They  have  only  succeeded  in 
plumbing  profounder  depths  of  human  courage,  and 
evoking  higher  qualities  of  endurance  than  have  ever 
been  seen  before." 

No,  most  people  who  are  thinking  about  the  subject 
to-day  are  agreed  that  wars  will  not  end  because  of 
the  destructive  power  of  men,  but  through  the  con- 
structive power  of  human  feeling  and  intellect.  Wlien 
the  great  majority  of  men  recognize,  as  so  many  do 
now,  that  as  the  world  exists  to-day,  no  nation  can 
ever  gain  by  a  war  of  aggression,  but  that  the  nation 
at  war  loses  her  best,  her  young  and  strong,  and  has 
left  only  the  old  and  defective  who  cannot  fight,  that 
she  loses  her  industrial  and  commercial  prosperity  as 
well,  and  through  these  losses  loses  more  than  she 
can  ever  gain  by  conquest ;  when  all  nations  realize 
that  the  destruction  of  great  cathedrals  like  Rheims, 
of  the  beautiful  town  hall  at  Lille,  of  the  unique  Cloth 
Market  at  Ypres,  and  of  a  University  like  that  of 
Louvain  makes  the  whole  world  poorer  beyond  meas- 
ure, then  will  men  agree  that  no  small  group  of  men, 
and  no  single  nation  shall,  in  the  future,  be  allowed 
to  cause  war ;  and  then  they  will  organize  some  power 
strong  enough  to  prevent  war. 

Then  will  come  the  League  of  Nations  to  Enforce 


THE  BEAST  IN   MAN  153 

Peace,  or  the  Parliament  of  Man  of  which  Tennyson 
wrote  in  "Locksley  Hall"  seventy-five  years  ago. 
The  poet  seemed  as  in  a  vision  to  see  the  present 
World  War  with  its  terrors  and  its  battles  in  the  air. 
Perhaps  his  vision  of  the  abolition  of  war  and  the 
federation  of  the  world  is  equally  true. 

For  I  dipt  into  the  future,  far  as  human  eye  could  see, 

Saw  the  Vision  of  the  world,  and  all  the  wonder  that  would  be ; 

Saw  the  heavens  fill  with  commerce,  argosies  of  magic  sails, 
Pilots  of  the  purple  twihght,  dropping  down  with  costly  bales ; 

Heard  the  heavens  fill  with  shouting,  and  there  rain'd  a  ghastly 

dew 
From  the  nations'  airy  navies  grappling  in  the  central  blue ; 

Far  along  the  world-wide  whisper  of  the  south  wind  rushing  warm, 
With  the  standards  of  the  peoples  plunging  through  the  thunder 
storm ; 

Till  the  war  drum  throbb'd  no  longer,  and  the  battle  flags  were 

furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  Federation  of  the  world. 


154 


WHEN    GERMANY   LOST   THE   WAR 

NO  man  knows  exactly  when  and  where  the 
three  and  twenty  alUes  will  win  the  war,  but 
all  men  know  when  and  where  Germany  lost  it.  It 
was  four  years  ago  this  morning,  at  a  point  near  Gem- 
menich,  a  village  southwest  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  It 
was  then  and  there  that  the  first  gray  uniform  crossed 
the  frontier  from  Germany  into  Belgium. 

An  hour  before  and  it  was  not  too  late  for  Germany 
to  win  the  war,  or  at  least  to  lose  it  with  honor.  An 
hour  afterward,  and  Germany  was  doomed.  What 
has  befallen  her  since  that  4th  of  August,  what  will 
befall  her  in  the  future,  were  predetermined  from  the 
fatal  instant  of  that  summer  morning  when  the  first 
German  soldier  trod  where  Prussia  had  promised  he 
should  never  go.  There  is  not  a  German  killed  to- 
day in  the  flight  to  the  Vesle  whose  fate  was  not  written 
at  Gemmenich. 

It  was  not  merely  that  the  invasion  of  a  land  guar- 
anteed perpetual  neutrality  brought  Great  Britain 
into  the  fight  and  turned  into  a  world  war  what  Ger- 
many had  hoped  would  be  a  small,  swift,  and  easy 

COUBTBSY   OF   THE  NEW  YORK  SUN 

155 


lol)  LEST   WE   FORGET 

campaign.  It  was  the  exposure  of  Germany  herself. 
Know  of  her  wliat  we  may  to-day,  we  thought  of 
her  otherwise  four  years  ago  yesterday.  She  had 
thrown  about  herself  a  mantle  which  hid  the  sword 
and  the  thick,  studded  boots.  She  worked  at  science 
and  played  at  art.  She  sang  and  thumped  the  piano. 
She  cleaned  her  streets  and  washed  her  children's 
faces.  Many  persons  in  America  and  England  be- 
lieved that  she  was  efficient  and  that  her  very  ver- 
boten  signs  were  guides  to  the  ideal  life.  Even  as  the 
Kaiser  reviewed  his  armies  he  babbled  of  peace ; 
peace,  to  believe  him,  was  the  first  object  of  his 
life. 

We  do  not  know  of  any  writer  who  has  condensed 
the  proof  of  Germam^'s  falsehood  and  cowardice  into 
so  few  words  as  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  who,  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  spoke  as  follows  to  the 
Reichstag  four  years  ago  this  afternoon : 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  acting  in  self-defence.  Necessity 
knows  no  law.  Our  troops  have  occupied  Luxemburg  and  have 
possibly  already  entered  on  Belgian  soil.  [The  speaker  knew  that 
the  invasion  had  begun.] 

Gentlemen,  that  is  a  breach  of  international  law. 

The  French  Government  has  notified  Brussels  that  it  would 
respect  Belgian  neutrality  as  long  as  the  adversary  respected  it. 
But  we  know  that  France  stood  ready  for  an  invasion.  France 
could  wait,  we  could  not.  A  French  invasion  on  our  flank  and 
the  lower  Rhine  might  have  been  disastrous.  Thus  we  were 
forced  to  ignore  the  rightful  protests  of  the  Governments  of 


WHEN   GERMANY  LOST   THE  WAR  157 

Luxemburg  and  Belgium.  The  injustice  —  I  speak  openly  — 
the  injustice  we  thereby  commit  we  will  try  to  make  good  as 
soon  as  our  military  aims  have  been  attained.  He  who  is  menaced 
as  we  are  and  is  fighting  for  his  all,  can  only  consider  the  one  and 
best  way  to  strike. 

There  stood  the  German  Empire,  intensively  trained 
in  the  arts  of  war  for  forty  years,  pleading  cowardice 
in  extenuation  of  her  broken  word.  "France  could 
wait,  we  could  not!"  A  brave  man,  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  unless  he  knew  before  he  spoke  that  the 
whole  nation  had  sunk  to  the  immoral  level  of  the 
cowards  who  invaded  Belgium  because  they  feared 
that  on  a  fair  field  France  would  have  beaten  them ! 
It  is  curious  that  in  the  whole  record  of  German  state- 
craft in  the  war,  the  Chancellor's  confession  of  his 
empire's  degradations  stands  out  ahnost  like  a  clean 
thing. 

The  Chancellor  did  not  deceive  the  people  except 
in  his  implication  that  France  wor.ld  have  struck 
through  Belgium  if  Germany  had  not.  He- did  not 
deceive  himself,  either.  He  knew  the  cowardice  of 
Germany.  It  is  probable  that  he  believed,  as  the 
Junkers  believed,  that  England,  too,  was  a  coward. 
Prince  Lichnowsky  had  told  them  the  truth  about 
England,  but  they  had  not  believed.  In  the  years 
of  Kultur,  they  had  forgotten  what  honor  was  like. 
They,  chose  to  credit  the  stories  that  England  was 
torn   with   dissensions,   threatened   with   rebellion  in 


l.VS  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Ireland  and  India,  nervous  from  labor  troubles,  and 
not  only  ]ihysically  unprepared  for  war  but  mentally 
ami  morally  unlit  for  war.  Even  the  telegram  of 
Sir  Edward  Grey,  communicated  on  the  day  of  Bel- 
gium's in\asion,  to  the  German  Goverimient  b}-  the 
Hritish  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  did  not  dispel  the 
illusion  about  Great  Britain  : 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Germany  declined  to  give  the  same 
assurance  respecting  Belgium  as  France  gave  last  week  in  reply 
to  our  request  made  simultaneousl}'  at  BerUn  and  Paris,  we  must 
repeat  that  request  and  ask  that  a  satisfactory  reply  to  it  and  to 
m}'-  telegram  of  this  morning  be  received  here  by  12  o'clock  to- 
night. If  not,  3'ou  are  instructed  to  ask  for  your  passports  and 
to  say  that  His  Majesty's  Government  feels  bound  to  take  all 
steps  in  their  power  to  uphold  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  and  the 
observance  of  a  treaty  to  which  Germany  is  as  much  a  party  as 
ourselves. 

Even  that  memorable  document,  we  say,  did  not 
convince  Germany  that  common  honor  still  lived 
across  the  Channel.  The  Foreign  Secretary,  Von 
Jagow,  a  mere  tool  of  the  Kaiser,  took  it  mechanically ; 
but  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  added  to  the  sum  of 
German  cowardice.  Brave  as  he  had  been  in  the 
Reichstag,  he  whimpered  to  Sir  Edward  Goschen 
when  he  saw  that  ''12  o'clock  to-night"  on  paper. 
This  account  of  the  conversation  is  Goschen's,  but 
the  German  Chancellor  later  confirmed  the  English- 
man's version : 


WHEN   GERMANY   LOST   THE   WAR  159 

I  found  the  Chancellor  very  agitated.  His  Excellency  at 
once  began  a  harangue  which  lasted  for  about  twenty  minutes. 
He  said  that  the  step  taken  by  His  Majesty's  Government  was 
terrible  to  a  degree;  just  for  a  word  —  "neutrality,"  a  word 
which  in  war  time  had  so  often  been  disregarded  —  just  for  a 
scrap  of  paper,  Great  Britain  was  going  to  make  war  on  a  kindred 
nation  who  desired  nothing  better  than  to  be  friends  with  her. 

When  he  added  that  it  was  a  matter  of  ^4ife  and 
death"  to  Germany  to  advance  through  Belgium,  the 
British  Ambassador  replied  that  it  was  ^'a  matter 
of  hfe  and  death  for  the  honor  of  Great  Britain  that 
she  should  keep  her  solid  engagement  to  do  her  utmost 
to  defend  Belgium's  neutrality  if  attacked."  Her  ut- 
most !    Aye,  she  has  done  it ! 

A  last  gasp  from  the  German  Chancellor:  '^But  at 
what  price  will  that  compact  have  been  kept?  Has 
the  British  Government  thought  of  that?"  Sir  Ed- 
ward Goschen  replied  that  '^fear  of  consequences 
could  hardly  be  regarded  as  an  excuse  for  breaking 
solemn  engagements,"  but  these  words  were  lost. 
The  German  Chancellor  had  abandoned  himself  to 
the  contemplation  of  the  truth  :  that  morning  Ger- 
many had  been  beaten  when  a  soldier  stepped  across 
a  line.  How  long  the  decision  might  be  in  dispute 
Bethmann-Hollweg  could  not  know,  but  he  must 
have  known  that,  cheating,  Germany  had  loaded  the 
dice  at  the  wrong  side.  If  she  had  struck  fairly  at 
France,  England  would  have  had  to  stand  by,  neutral. 


100  LEST   WE   FORGET 

The  seas  would  be  oixmi  to  Germany.  If  France  had 
violated  Belgium's  neutrality  —  as  Germany  professed 
to  believe  she  intended  to  do  —  England  would  have 
attacked  France,  keeping  the  pledge  made  in  the 
Treaty  of  London.  But  now,  because  England  weighed 
a  promise  and  not  the  price  of  keeping  it,  there  could 
be  no  swift  stroke  at  lone  France,  no  dash  eastward  to 
subdue  Russia.  To-day,  when  Germany  sees  how  ripe 
Russia  was  then  for  revolution,  the  remembrance  of 
that  4th  of  August  must  be  the  bitterest  drop  in  the 
deep  cup  of  her  regret. 

The  items  at  which  we  have  glanced  were  not  all  or 
even  the  most  important  acts  of  Germany's  dawning 
tragedy.  It  was  not  merely  that  she  revealed  herself 
to  the  world,  but  that  she  revealed  herself  to  herself. 
The  moving  picture  of  Kultur,  of  fake  idealism,  of 
humaneness,  which  she  had  unreeled  before  our 
charitable  eyes  was  stopped,  and  stopped  forever. 
The  film,  exposed  momentarily  to  the  flame  of  truth, 
exploded  and  left  on  the  screen  the  hideous  picture 
of  Germany  as  she  was.  No  more  sham  for  a  naked 
nation.  In  went  the  unmasked  Prussian  to  outrage 
and  murder,  to  bind  and  burn.  Wlien  a  Goverrmient 
violated  its  word  to  the  world,  why  should  the  in- 
dividual check  his  passions?  All  the  world,  at  first 
unbelieving,  watched  the  procession  of  horror,  and 
then,  against  its  wishes,  against  all  the  ingrained 
faith  that  the  long  years  had  stored  within  the  human 


WHEN   GERMANY  LOST  THE  WAR  161 

breast,  the  world  saw  that  it  was  dealing  with  nothing 
less  than  a  monster. 

England's  day,  this?  Yes,  and  a  glorious  anni- 
versary for  her.  She  has  indeed  kept  her  "solid 
engagement  to  do  her  utmost."  In  a  million  graves 
are  men  of  the  British  Empire  who  did  not  consider 
the  price  at  which  the  compact  would  be  kept.  Their 
lives  for  a  scrap  of  paper  —  and  welcome !  When  we 
think  that  we  are  winning  the  war  —  and  nobody 
denies  that  it  is  American  men  and  food  and  ships 
and  guns  that  are  winning  it  now  —  let  us  look  back 
to  the  4th  of  August,  1914,  and  remember  what  na- 
tion it  was  that  stood  between  the  beast  and  his  prey, 
scorning  all  his  false  offers  of  kindness  to  Belgium,  his 
promises  not  to  rob  France,  and  his  hypocritical  cry 
of  "kindred  nation"  to  the  England  he  really  hated. 

But  it  is  not  alone  England's  day.  It  is  the  day 
of  the  opening  of  the  world's  eyes  to  the  criminality 
of  Prussia.  It  is  the  anniversary  of  Germany's  loss 
of  the  war.  We  —  America,  France,  England,  Italy, 
and  the  rest  of  us  —  will  win  it,  but  Germany  lost  it 
herself  with  the  one  stroke  at  Gemmenich.  She  be- 
lieved it  a  masterpiece  of  cunning.  It  was  the  foul 
thrust  of  a  coward  and  the  deliberate  mistake  of  a  fool. 
The  New  York  Sun,  August  4,  1918. 


CARRY   ON! 

IT'S  eas\'  to  fight  when  everything's  right, 
And  you're  mad  with  the  thrill  and  the  glory; 
It's  easj'  to  cheer  when  victory's  near, 
And  wallow  in  fields  that  are  gory. 
It's  a  different  song  when  everything's  wrong, 
When  j^ou're  feeling  infernally  mortal ; 
When  it's  ten  against  one,  and  hope  there  is  none, 
Buck  up,  little  soldiei-,  and  chortle : 

Carry  on  !     Carr}'  on ! 
There  isn't  much  punch  in  your  blow. 
You're  glaring  and  staring  and  hitting  out  blind  ; 
You're  muddj^  and  bloody,  but  never  you  mind. 
Carr}'  on !     Carry  on  ! 
You  haven't  the  ghost  of  a  show. 
It's  looldng  like  death,  but  while  you've  a  breath, 
Carry  on,  my  son  !     Carry  on  ! 

And  so  in  the  strife  of  the  battle  of  life 
It's  easy  to  fight  when  you're  winning ; 
It's  easy  to  slave,  and  starve  and  be  brave, 
When  the  dawn  of  success  ls  beginning. 
But  the  man  who  can  meet  despair  and  defeat 
With  a  cheer,  there's  the  man  of  God's  choosing ; 
The  man  who  can  fight  to  Heaven's  own  height 
Is  the  man  who  can  fight  when  he's  losing. 

COPYRIGHT,    BY   BARSE   AND   HOPKINS 

162 


CARRY    ON  !  163 

Carry  on  !     Carry  on  ! 
Things  never  were  looming  so  black. 
But  show  that  you  haven't  a  cowardly  streak, 
And  though  you're  unlucky  you  never  are  weak. 
Carry  on  !     Carry  on  ! 
Brace  up  for  another  attack. 

Carry  on,  old  man  !     Carry  on ! 

There  are  some  who  drift  out  in  the  deserts  of  doubt, 
And  some  who  in  brutishness  wallow ; 
There  are  others,  I  know,  who  in  piety  go 
Because  of  a  Heaven  to  follow. 
But  to  labor  with  zest,  and  to  give  of  your  best, 
For  the  sweetness  and  joy  of  the  giving ; 
To  help  folks  along  with  a  hand  and  a  song ; 
Why,  there's  the  real  sunshine  of  living. 

Carry  on  !     Carry  on  ! 
Fight  the  good  fight  and  true  ; 
Believe  in  your  mission,  greet  life  with  a  cheer ; 
There's  big  work  to  do,  and  that's  why  you  are  here. 
Carry  on  !     Carry  on  ! 
Let  the  world  be  the  better  for  you ; 
And  at  last  when  you  die,  let  this  be  your  cry : 
Carry  on,  my  soul  !     Carry  on  ! 

Robert  Service, 


104 


WAR   DOGS 

THE  story  of  ''The  Animals  Going  to  War"  tells 
how,  one  by  one,  the  wild  creatures,  then  the 
enemies  of  man,  were  made  his  friends  and  learned 
to  be  his  helpers.  In  the  World  War,  the  horse 
has  borne  man  into  the  thick  of  the  conflict,  the 
mule  has  drawn  his  big  guns  into  place,  and  the 
dog  has  wonderfully  come  to  his  aid,  so  that  now, 
whenever  the  "dogs  of  war"  are  let  loose,  the  war 
dogs  go  with  them. 

The  Battle  of  Verdun  had  been  raging  for  months ; 
Fort  Douaumont  had  been  taken,  lost,  and  finally 
retaken  by  the  French.  The  Germans  still  poured 
against  it  a  terrific  rain  of  shot  and  shell,  and  within 
the  battered  fortress  the  guns  were  disabled  and  the 
ammunition  nearly  exhausted.  Help  was  needed  and 
needed  at  once.  Long  ago  the  wireless  had  been  shot 
to  pieces,  and  the  telephones  had  been  destroyed. 
It  was  sure  death  for  a  man  to  venture  outside,  let 
alone  trying  to  reach  the  lines  behind,  where  he  might 
secure  help. 

Still  the  defenders  stood  firm,  and  in  their  hearts, 
if  not  with  their  lips,  over  and  over  they  repeated 

165 


100  LEST   WE   FORGET 

those  magic  words,  "Thej^  shall  not  pass!"  But 
the  shells  continued  to  fall  in  their  very  midst,  and 
unless  that  battery  could  be  silenced,  the  fort  and 
all  the  men  in  it  would  be  lost.  What  could  be  done 
when  no  messenger  could  reach  the  lines  behind? 

Suddenh',  as  the  men  were  straining  their  eyes 
almost  hopelessly  in  the  direction  of  those  lines,  they 
saw  a  small,  dark  speck  moving  across  the  fields, 
stopping  onl}'  here  and  there  behind  a  rock  to  take 
shelter  from  the  bursting  shells.  Now  and  then  it 
dashed  wildh'  over  the  open  fields.  But  ever  straight 
on  toward  the  fort  it  came.  Swiftly  the  entrance 
of  the  fort  was  flung  open,  and  in  dashed  one  of  the 
faithful  dogs,  unhurt.  In  the  wallet,  fastened  to  his 
collar,  was  found  a  message  telling  that  relief  was 
coming.  Strapped  to  his  back  was  a  tiny  pannier, 
inside  of  which  were  two  frightened  carrier  pigeons. 
On  a  slip  of  paper  the  commander  quickly  wrote  his 
message:  ''Stop  the  German  battery  on  our  left." 
Then  adding  any  necessary  facts  as  to  pointing  the 
guns,  he  fastened  the  message  to  the  trembling  bird 
and  let  it  loose.  Straight  to  its  home,  above  shot 
and  shell,  flew  the  pigeon.  In  a  few  moments  the 
German  battery  was  silenced,  and  Douaumont  and 
the  brave  defenders  were  saved. 

All  along  the  lines,  the  dogs  were  busy  bearing 
important  messages  back  and  forth  from  one  com- 
mander to  another,   and  from  one   fort  to  another. 


WAR  DOGS  167 

Zip,  an  English  bulldog,  ran  two  miles  in  heavy  shell 
fire  and  afterward  had  to  go  about  with  his  jaw  in 
splints ;  but  he  delivered  his  message  and  seemed 
anxious  to  get  well  enough  to  carry  another.  One  of 
the  other  messenger  dogs,  it  is  said,  carried  orders 
almost  continuously  for  seventy-two  hours,  hardly 
stopping  to  eat  or  drink ;  for  no  war  dog  would  eat 
or  drink  anything  given  him  by  strangers.  The  faith- 
ful animals  were  in  danger  of  being  taken  prisoners, 
as  well  as  of  being  struck.  Indeed,  in  one  instance 
a  heavy  cannon  rolled  over  upon  a  big  mastiff,  pinning 
him  there  until  help  came. 

When  the  battle  ceased,  the  dogs  sprang  from  the 
trenches  and  searched  the  fields  and  woods  for  wounded 
men.  They  could  find  them  much  more  quickly  and 
with  less  danger  of  being  seen  than  any  Red  Cross  man. 

In  former  wars  among  civilized  peoples,  the  firing 
has  always  been  upon  armed  forces,  and  the  guns 
were  silent  after  each  battle  to  allow  both  sides  to 
find  and  care  for  the  wounded  soldiers  in  the  field. 
The  Germans,  however,  have  used  the  Red  Cross 
doctors  and  stretcher-bearers  for  targets,  so  that  to 
send  them  out  only  means  to  add  them  to  the  number 
wounded.  But  the  dogs,  creeping  among  the  men, 
can  seldom  be  seen  by  the  enemy,  and  besides  are 
able  to  find  the  wounded  quicker  and  more  easily. 
As  soon  as  a  dog  finds  an  injured  soldier,  he  seizes 
his  cap,  a  button,  or  a  bit  of  his  clothing,  and  runs 


168  LEST   WE  FORGET 

back  with  it  to  the  doctor  or  a  Red  Cross  nurse,  for 
he  will  give  it  to  no  one  else.  The  stretcher-bearers 
then  follow  the  dog  and  bring  back  the  wounded  man. 
Often  the  man  may  lie  in  a  dense  thicket  where  no 
one  would  think  to  look  for  him,  but  the  dog,  by  his 
keen  sense  of  smell  or  by  hearing  the  deep  breaths  or 
some  slight  sound  made  by  the  injured  man,  creeps 
in  and  finds  him. 

Sometimes,  to  attract  the  attention  of  an  ambulance 
driver,  the  dogs  give  several  short,  quick  barks ;  but 
usually  they  do  their  work  silently,  for  if  they  bark, 
the  enemy  will  fire. 

Many  times  a  dog  finds  a  man  unable  to  get  back 
to  the  lines,  but  not  so  seriously  wounded  but  that 
he  can  help  himself  somewhat.  In  such  a  case,  before 
running  for  help,  the  dog  stands  quiet,  close  to  the 
soldier,  and  allows  him  to  take  the  flasks  and  first-aid 
bandages  from  the  wallet  which  is  hung  about  the 
dog's  neck  or  pinned  to  the  blanket  on  his  back. 

Thus,  by  the  help  of  these  faithful  friends,  the  lives 
of  many  hundreds  of  men  have  been  saved.  Over 
one  hundred  were  rescued  in  one  night  after  a  battle. 
A  big  Newfoundland,  named  Napoleon,  had  the  credit 
of  saving  as  many  as  twenty.  One  of  the  men,  in 
speaking  of  him,  said,  ''Part  of  his  tail  has  been  blown 
away,  and  once  he  was  left  for  dead  in  No  Man's 
Land,  but  he  is  still  on  the  job,  working  for  civiliza- 
tion." 


WAR   DOGS  169 

When  not  fighting  or  on  watch,  the  men  in  the 
trenches  enjoy  the  company  of  the  dogs  and  teach 
them  to  perform  all  sorts  of  tricks,  the  fox  terriers 
proving  especially  intelligent.  They  also  do  good 
work  in  keeping  the  trenches  free  from  rats. 

At  night,  a  French  sentinel  sometimes  crawls  through 
the  entanglements  on  his  way  to  a  "listening  post" 
out  in  No  Man's  Land.  With  him  goes  a  sentinel 
dog.  The  sentinel's  purpose  is  to  discover  if  the 
enemy  are  getting  ready  for  a  surprise  attack.  Lying 
flat  on  the  earth,  or  crouching  in  a  shell  hole,  he  listens 
with  bated  breath  for  any  telltale  noises.  The  dog, 
listening  too,  creeps  along  beside  him,  or  slinks  silently 
out  into  the  darkness.  He  can  tell,  when  his  master 
cannot,  if  an  enemy  is  abroad.  Making  no  sound, 
giving  no  betraying  bark,  as  soon  as  he  discovers  the 
enemy  the  dog  draws  near  to  his  master,  stands  at 
attention,  his  ears  pricked  up,  his  hair  bristling,  his 
tail  wagging  as  he  silently  paws  the  ground  or  growls 
so  low  that  only  his  master  can  hear  him.  If  the 
German  soldier  attempts  to  fight,  the  dog  springs  at 
him  and  throws  him  to  the  ground. 

A  group  of  soldiers  were  on  watch  one  night  in  one 
of  the  front  trenches,  when  all  of  the  dogs  suddenly 
became  uneasy,  growling  low,  and  growing  more  and 
more  excited.  The  soldiers  knew  their  dogs  and 
trusted  their  warnings,  so  they  telephoned  back  to 
the  main  trenches  for  help.     In  less  than  half  an  hour, 


170  LEST   WE   FORGET 

an  attack  was  made  from  the  German  trenches  opposite. 
Meanwhile,  however,  reenforcements  had  arrived  for 
the  Allies,  which  sent  the  enemy  back  to  his  own  lines 
again.  How  the  dogs  knew  so  long  before  that  the 
attack  was  coming,  whether  they  could  have  heard 
the  first  faint  signs  of  preparation  in  the  enemy  trenches, 
the  soldiers  could  not  tell. 

\Mien  a  front  line  trench  of  the  enem}^  is  captured, 
it  is  the  faithful  dogs  who  draw  up  the  many  cart- 
loads of  ammunition  and  supplies,  and  some  of  the 
smaller  guns.  For  this,  the  Belgian  dogs  are  especially 
well  fitted. 

Happy  as  long  as  they  can  help  in  the  fighting, 
restless  and  uneasy  whenever  sent  back  to  the  hos- 
pitals for  treatment  or  rest,  these  dogs  have  shown 
the  worth  of  all  the  training  they  have  received,  as 
well  as  a  great  amount  of  natural  intelligence. 

WTiile  Zip,  Napoleon,  Spot,  Stop,  Mignon,  and 
Bouee  have  been  doing  their  bit  on  the  firing  line,  still 
others  have  been  taking  their  training  in  readiness  to 
go  to  the  front.  And  very  hard  training  it  is.  Sheep 
dogs,  fox  terriers,  bulldogs,  collies,  St.  Bernards,  New- 
foundlands, Alaskan  w^olf  dogs,  mongrels,  —  all  must 
be  carefully  trained  by  expert  dog  trainers. 

First  they  must  learn  to  distinguish  between  the 
uniform  of  their  country  and  that  of  the  enemy. 
They  must  not  bark,  because  then  the  enemy  will 
be  sure  to  shoot.     In  carrying  letters  from   post  to 


■>»''   '"''    ' %/f>y"''^APi^' 


Cupyriuhl  bu  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

A   French   Officer   and  His   Dog  Both  Wearing  Anti-Gas  Masks 
While  Crossing  a  Dangerous  Zone  in  France 


171 


172  LEST  WE  FORGET 

post,  they  must  learn  to  recognize  the  posts  b.y 
name. 

About  three  months  of  training  are  necessary  to 
teacli  the  dogs  to  travel  as  far  as  three  kilometres 
in  this  work.  Two  of  the  dogs  are  put  into  the  care 
of  two  trainers,  and  taught  to  recognize  both  as  their 
masters,  and  to  carry  dispatches  from  one  to  the 
other. 

The  dogs  must  be  trained  to  obey  implicitly.  If 
the  master  stops  abruptly  in  his  walk,  the  dog  must 
do  the  same;  if  the  trainer  runs,  the  dog  must  keep 
in  perfect  step,  ready  at  a  given  signal  to  lie  down, 
or  follow  a  scent,  or  find  a  wounded  soldier.  For 
man}^  hours  he  must  be  trained  in  jumping,  because 
of  the  great  heights  over  which  he  must  spring,  carry- 
ing heavy  weights  in  his  mouth  or  upon  his  back  or 
around  his  neck.  He  must  learn  to  make  no  sound 
except  when  ordered  to  do  so,  to  find  objects  which 
have  been  most  skillfully  hidden,  to  distinguish  be- 
tween a  dead  man  and  one  wounded  and  breathing, 
to  deliver  the  token  of  a  wounded  man  only  to  the 
doctor  or  Red  Cross  nurse,  to  allow  nothing  to  hinder 
him  from  carrying  out  any  task,  to  refuse  food  and 
water  from  strangers,  and  to  aid  soldiers  on  the  watch. 
These  watch  dogs  must  learn  to  give  a  signal  when 
they  scent  poison  gas  or  hear  the  enemy  creeping  up. 
And  they  must  guard  prisoners  very  carefully. 

Some  dogs  cannot  learn  all  of  these  duties,  and  so 


WAR  DOGS  173 

specialists  examine  every  dog  that  is  enlisted.  There 
are  tests  for  health,  intelligence,  speed,  quick  tempers, 
and  even  tempers.  When  a  dog  has  -been  in  training 
for  several  weeks,  he  is  sometimes  found  in  the  end 
to  be  unfit  for  service,  and  the  trainer  has  to  admit 
a  new  recruit  in  his  place  and  start  all  over  again. 
Often  a  dog  can  do  certain  tasks  much  better  than 
others,  and  so  each  one  is  assigned  to  the  kind  of 
service  which  he  can  do  best. 

It  is  marvelous  what  great  services  these  dogs  have 
rendered  in  the  World  War.  The  governments  have 
recognized  their  worth,  and  societies  have  been  formed 
to  train  and  protect  them.  The  French  people,  in 
1912,  organized  the  '^Blue  Cross."  It  is  a  Blue  Cross 
officer  who  examines  the  dogs  and  a  Blue  Cross  doctor 
who  gives  first  aid  and  orders  an  injured  dog  to  the 
hospital  for  further  treatment.  The  Blue  Cross  also 
has  been  at  work  in  Italy. 

The  American  Red  Cross  Society  has  taken  over 
the  task  of  securing  and  protecting  dogs  on  the  Amer- 
ican front,  but  instead  of  the  red  cross,  the  animals 
wear  a  red  star,  so  that  the  field  is  blest  with  three 
red  symbols  of  mercy  —  the  red  cross,  the  red  triangle, 
and  the  red  star.  The  number  of  dogs  added  to  the 
war  service  during  the  first  four  years  of  the  war  was 
about  ten  thousand  on  all  fronts. 

Not  only  have  dogs  been  provided  by  various 
societies,  but  many  have  been  given  by  private  families. 


171  LEST  WE  FORGET 

One  elderly  French  father  wrote  to  the  French  War 
Dej'iartnient,  "I  already  have  three  sons  and  a  son- 
in-law  with  the  Colors ;  now  I  give  up  my  dog,  and 
'Vive  la  France !'" 

The  French  government  officials,  as  well  as  the 
various  societies,  have  shown  their  gratitude  by  award- 
ing honors  to  the  canine  heroes.  Many  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  orders  for  bravery  and  heroic  conduct. 
Several  have  been  presented  with  gold  collars.  The 
French  government  has  even  published  a  '' Golden 
Book  of  Dogs,"  in  which  are  recorded  some  of  the 
heroic  deeds  of  these  brave  and  faithful  friends  of 
man.  One  of  the  dogs  wearing  a  French  medal  of 
honor  is  a  plucky  fox  terrier,  who  is  said  to  have 
saved  one  hundred  fifty  lives  after  the  Battle  of  the 
Marne.  Bouee,  a  fuzzy-haired,  dirty, yellow-and-b lack, 
tailless  little  fellow,  is  another  hero,  Avho  has  been 
cited  three  times  for  his  bravery.  During  a  heavy 
action,  when  all  the  telephone  wires  had  been  de- 
stroyed, Bouee  carried  communications  between  a 
commandant  and  his  force,  fulfilling  his  duty  perfectly 
without  allowing  anything  to  distract  him. 

Shall  we  not  change  the  old  proverb  from  "  As  brave 
as  a  Hon,"  to  "  As  brave  as  a  dog  "? 


THE   BELGIAN   PRINCE 

THE  Belgian  Prince  was  a  British  cargo  steamer. 
On  a  voyage  from  Liverpool  to  Philadelphia, 
with  Captain  Hassan  in  command,  she  was,  on  July  31, 
1917,  attacked  and  sunk  by  a  German  U-boat.  For 
brutal  savagery  and  barbarism,  the  drowning  of  the 
crew  of  the  Belgian  Prince  is  one  of  the  most  astound- 
ing in  the  history  of  human  warfare.  Captain  Hassan 
was  taken  aboard  the  U-boat,  and  no  further  knowl- 
edge of  his  fate  has  been  received.  The  Belgian 
Prince  was  a  merchant  ship,  not  a  warship  in  any 
sense  of  the  word. 

The  Germans  evidently  intended  to  sink  her  with- 
out a  trace  left  behind  to  tell  the  story,  as  their  Minister 
to  Argentina  advised  his  -government  to  do  with  Ar- 
gentine ships ;  but  three  members  of  her  crew,  the 
chief  engineer  and  two  seamen,  escaped  as  by  a  miracle. 
Their  stories  are  now  among  the  records  of  the  British 
Admiralty ;  they  have  also  been  published  in  many 
books  which  have  a  place  in  thousands  of  libraries, 
public  and  private,  all  over  the  world.  How  will  the 
Hun,  when  peace  comes  again,  face  his  fellow-men? 

The  story  of  the  chief  engineer,  Thomas  Bowman, 
is  as  follows : 

175 


176  LEST   WE  FORGET 

At  7  :  50  P.M.  on  the  night  of  July  31,  the  Belgian  Prince  was 
traveling  along  at  ten  knots,  when  she  was  stmck.  The  weather 
was  fine  and  the  sea  smooth.  It  was  a  clear  day  and  just  be- 
ginning to  darken.  I  was  on  the  after  deck  of  the  ship,  ofif  watch, 
taking  a  stroll  and  having  a  smoke.  The  donkejTiian  shouted 
out.  "Here's  a  torpedo  coming."  I  turned  and  saw  the  wake 
on  the  port  about  a  hundrod  yards  awa}'.  I  yelled  a  warning,  but 
the  words  were  no  more  than  out  of  my  mouth  when  we  were  hit. 

I  was  thrown  on  deck  by  a  piece  of  spar,  and  when  I  recovered 
I  found  the  ship  had  a  very  heavy  Hst  to  port  and  almost  all  the 
crew  had  taken  to  the  boats.  I  got  into  the  starboard  lifeboat, 
which  was  my  station.  Until  then  I  had  seen  no  submarine,  but 
now  heard  it  firing  a  machine  gun  at  the  other  side  of  the  ship. 
With  a  larger  gun  it  shot  away  the  radio  wires  aloft  so  that  we  could 
send  out  no  S.  O.  S.  messages.  As  soon  as  we  had  pulled  away 
from  the  ship  I  saw  the  U-boat,  which  promptty  made  toward 
our  own  boats  and  hailed  us  in  English,  commanding  us  to  come 
alongside  her.  We  were  covered  by  their  machine  gun  and  re- 
volvers.    We  were  in  two  lifeboats  and  the  captain's  dinghy. 

The  submarine  commander  then  asked  for  our  captain  and 
told  him  to  come  on  board,  which  he  did.  He  was  taken  down 
inside  the  submarine  and  we  saw  him  no  more.  The  rest  of  us, 
forty-three  in  number,  were  then  ordered  to  board  the  submarine 
and  to  line  up  on  deck.  A  German  officer  and  several  sailors 
were  very  foul  and  abusive  in  their  language.  They  ordered  us, 
in  English,  to  strip  off  our  life  belts  and  overcoats  and  throw 
them  down  on  the  deck. 

When  this  was  done  they  proceeded  to  search  us,  making  us 
hold  up  our  hands  and  threatening  us  with  revolvers.  These 
sailors,  while  they  passed  along  the  deck  and  were  searching  us, 
deliberately  kicked  most  of  the  life  belts  overboard  from  where 
we  had  dropped  them.     Beyond  making  us  take  off  our  life  belts 


THE  BELGIAN  PRINCE  111 

and  coats  there  was  no  interference  with  our  clothing.  They 
robbed  me  of  my  seaman's  discharge  book  and  certificate,  which 
they  threw  overboard,  but  kept  four  one-pound  notes. 

After  searching  us,  the  German  sailors  climbed  into  our  life- 
boats and  threw  out  the  oars,  gratings,  thole-pins,  and  baling 
tins.  The  provisions  and  compass  they  lugged  aboard  the  sub- 
marine. They  then  smashed  our  boats  with  axes  so  as  to  make 
them  useless,  and  cast  them  adrift.  I  saw  all  this  done  myself. 
Several  of  the  German  sailors  then  got  into  our  dinghy  and 
rowed  to  the  Belgian  Prince.  These  men  must  have  been  taken 
off  later,  after  they  had  ransacked  the  ship. 

The  submarine  then  moved  ahead  for  a  distance  of  several 
miles.  I  could  not  reckon  it  accurately  because  it  was  hard  to 
judge  her  speed.  She  then  stopped,  and  after  a  moment  or  two 
I  heard  a  rushing  sound  like  water  pouring  into  the  ballast  tanks 
of  the  submarine. 

"Look  out  for  yourselves,  boys,"  I  shouted.  "She  is  going 
down." 

The  submarine  then  submerged,  leaving  all  our  crew  in  the 
water,  barring  the  captain,  who  had  been  taken  below.  We  had 
no  means  of  escape  but  for  those  who  had  managed  to  retain 
their  life  belts.  I  tried  to  jump  clear,  but  was  carried  down 
with  the  submarine,  and  when  I  came  to  the  surface  I  could  see 
only  about  a  dozen  of  our  men  left  afloat,  including  a  young  lad 
named  Barnes,  who  was  shouting  for  help. 

I  swam  toward  him  and  found  that  he  had  a  life  belt  on,  but 
was  about  paralyzed  with  cold  and  fear.  I  held  him  up  during 
the  night.  He  became  unconscious  and  died  while  I  was  holding 
him.  All  this  time  I  could  hear  no  other  men  in  the  water.  When 
dawn  broke  I  could  see  the  Belgian  Prince  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  away  and  still  floating.  I  began  to  swim  in  her  direction, 
but  had  not  gone  far  when  I  saw  her  blow  up. 


178  LEST  WE  FORGET 

I  thou  drifted  about  in  the  life  l)elt  for  an  hour  or  two  longer 
and  t>a\v  smoke  on  the  horizon.  This  steamer  was  lajdng  a  course 
straight  for  me,  having  seen  the  explosion  of  the  Belgian  Prince. 
She  proved  to  be  a  British  naval  vessel,  which  also  found  the 
two  other  survivors  in  the  water.  We  were  taken  to  port  and 
got  back  our  strength  after  a  while.  None  of  us  had  given  the 
submarine  commander  and  crew  any  reason  for  their  behavior 
toward  us.  And  I  make  this  solemn  declaration  conscientioilsly, 
believing  it  to  be  true. 

The  two  common  sailors  who  survived  w^ere  William 
Snell,  a  negro,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  George  Si- 
lenski,  a  Russian.     William  Snell's  story  is  as  follows: 

Two  men  of  the  submarine's  crew  stayed  on  top  of  the  conning 
tower  with  rifles  in  their  hands  which  they  kept  trained  on  us. 
Seven  other  Germans  stood  abreast  of  our  line  on  the  starboard 
side  of  the  boat,  armed  with  automatic  pistols.  The  captain  of 
the  submarine,  a  blond  man  with  blue  eyes,  was  also  on  deck 
and  stood  near  the  forward  gun,  giving  orders  to  his  crew  in 
German,  and  telling  them  what  to  do.  Pretty  soon  he  walked 
along  in  front  of  the  men  of  the  Belgian  Prince,  asking  them  if 
they  had  arms  on  them.  He  ordered  us  to  take  off  our  life  belts 
and  throw  them  on  deck,  which  we  did.  As  the}'  dropped  at 
our  feet,  he  helped  his  sailors  pick  them  up  and  sling  them  over- 
board. 

When  I  threw  mj'  belt  down,  I  shoved  it  along  on  the  deck 
with  ni}'  foot,  and  finally  stood  on  it.  As  the  commander  walked 
along  the  line,  he  huddled  us  together  in  a  crowd  and  then  went 
and  pulled  the  plugs  out  of  our  lifeboats,  which  were  lying  on 
the  starboard  side  of  the  submarine.  When  he  went  back  to  the 
conning  tower,  I  quickly  picked  up  my  belt  and  hid  it  under  a 


THE  BELGIAN  PRINCE  179 

big,  loose  oilskin  which  I  was  wearing  when  I  left  the  Belgian 
Prince.  The  Germans  did  not  make  me  take  it  off  when  they 
searched  me.  I  hugged  the  life  belt  close  to  my  breast  with  one 
arm. 

When  the  commander  returned  to  the  conning  tower,  four 
German  sailors  came  on  deck  from  below  and  got  into  our  captain's 
small  boat,  which  was  on  the  port  side.  The  submarine  then 
backed  a  little,  steamed  ahead,  and  rammed  and  smashed  one 
of  our  lifeboats,  which  had  been  cast  adrift. 

The  four  men  who  had  jumped  into  our  captain's  boat  now 
pulled  alongside  the  Belgian  Prince.  The  submarine  then  got 
under  way  and  moved  ahead  at  about  nine  knots,  as  near  as  I 
could  guess,  leaving  her  four  men  aboard  the  Belgian  Prince, 
and  all  of  us,  except  our  skipper,  huddled  together  on  the  for- 
ward deck,  which  was  almost  awash. 

She  steamed  like  this  for  some  time,  and  then  I  noticed  that 
the  water  was  rising  slowly  on  the  deck  until  it  came  up  to  my 
ankles.  I  had  also  noticed,  a  little  while  before  this,  that  the 
conning  tower  was  closed.  The  water  kept  on  rising  around 
my  legs,  and  when  it  got  almost  up  to  my  knees  I  pulled  out 
my  life  belt,  threw  it  over  my  shoulders,  and  jumped  overboard. 
The  other  men  didn't  seem  to  know  what  was  going  to  happen. 
Some  of  them  were  saying,  ''I  wonder  if  they  mean  to  drown 
us." 

About  ten  seconds  after  I  had  jumped,  I  heard  a  suction  as  of 
a  vessel  sinking  and  the  submarine  had  submerged  entirely, 
leaving  the  crew  of  the  Belgian  Prince  to  struggle  in  the  water. 

I  began  to  swim  toward  our  own  ship  which  I  could  sec  faintly 
in  the  distance,  it  being  not  very  dark  in  that  latitude  until  late 
in  the  evening.  The  water  was  not  cold,  like  the  winter  time, 
and  I  was  not  badly  chilled,  but  swam  and  floated  all  night, 
on  my  back  and  in  other  positions.     One  of  our  crew,  who  had 


ISO  LEST   WE   FORGET 

no  life  l>clt,  kept  about  five  yards  from  iiic  for  half  an  hour  after 
the  submarine  submerged.  Then  he  became  exhausted  and  sank. 
I  could  hoar  many  other  cries  for  help,  but  I  could  not  see  the 
men. 

WluMi  (lay  came,  there  were  lots  of  bodies  of  old  shipmates 
floating  around  me.  Then  about  five  o'clock,  as  near  as  I  can 
judge,  I  made  out  the  Belgian  Prince  and  four  men  coming  over 
the  side.  They  had  been  lowering  some  stufT  into  a  boat.  I 
cried  out,  "Help,  help !"  but  they  paid  no  attention  to  me. 

Then  the  submarine  came  to  the  surface  and  the  four  sailors 
hoisted  their  stuff  out  of  the  rowboat  and  were  taken  aboard. 
Ten  minutes  later  the  submarine  submerged.  Then  there  was  a 
great  explosion  as  the  Belgian  Prince  broke  in  two  and  sank. 
Soon  I  saw  a  vessel  approaching  and  she  passed  me,  but  turned 
and  came  back  just  in  time.  I  was  all  in.  It  was  a  British  patrol 
steamer,  and  as  soon  as  I  came  to,  I  made  a  full  report  to  the 
captain  of  the  loss  of  the  Belgian  Prince  and  the  drowning  of  her 
crew. 

The  Russian,  in  his  story,  tells  of  the  taking  away 
of  the  life  belts  and  the  smashing  of  the  lifeboats ; 
of  the  crew  of  the  Belgian  Prince  being  left  to  sink 
or  swim  after  the, U-boat  submerged  —  in  all  of  these 
details  agreeing  with  the  stories  of  the  other  two. 
And  he  adds : 

Then  I  swam  toward  the  ship  all  night,  although  I  had  no  life 
belt  or  anything  to  support  me.  About  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing I  reached  the  Belgian  Prince  and  climbed  on  board.  I  stayed 
there  about  an  hour  and  got  some  dry  clothes  and  put  them  on. 

I  saw  the  submarine  come  near  the  ship  and  three  or  four  of 
her  men  climbed  on  board.     I  hid  and  they  did  not  notice  me. 


THE  BELGIAN  PRINCE  181 

They  had  come  to  put  bombs  in  the  ship,  so  I  jumped  overboard 
from  the  poop  with  a  hfe  belt  on.  The  submarine  fired  two 
shells  into  the  ship  to  make  her  hurry  up  and  sink.  Then  the 
Germans  steamed  away.  I  climbed  into  our  little  boat  which 
had  been  left  adrift  and  stayed  there  until  a  British  patrol  ship 
came  along  and  picked  me  up. 

Do  you  wonder  that  the  members  of  the  British 
Seamen's  Union  have  taken  a  pledge,  ''No  peace  until 
the  sea  is  free  from  Hun  outrages ' ' ;  and  that  they 
have  declared  a  boycott  on  all  German  ships,  cargoes, 
and  sailors  for  seven  years  after  the  war?  Sailors  of 
other  nations  are  joining  with  the  British  in  this 
boycott. 

The  quahty  of  mercy  is  not  strain'd, 

It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven 

Upon  the  place  beneath  :  it  is  twice  blest ; 

It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes : 

'Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest :  it  becomes 

The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown : 

It  is  an  attribute  to  God  himself ; 

And  earthly  power  doth  then  show  likest  God's 

When  mercy  seasons  justice. 

Shakespeare. 


DARING  THE  UNDARABLE 

We  are  thirty  in  the  hands  of  Fate 
And  thirty-one  with  Death,  oui-  mate. 

SO  sang  the  men  who,  with  D'Annunzio,  the 
Itahan  poet  and  hero,  set  out  ''to  dare  the 
undarable." 

Little  has  j^et  been  told  of  the  deeds  of  the  Italians 
in  the  World  War,  but  as  they  become  known,  the 
people  of  other  nations  realize  that  Italy  has  really 
worked  wonders  in  her  almost  superhuman  attempts  to 
conquer,  not  onty  men,  but  nature  as  well.  When  the 
complete  story  is  written  of  her  struggles  with  ava- 
lanches, snow,  frost,  and  enemy  soldiers  in  the  moun- 
tain passes,  it  will  be  one  continuous  record  of  heroic 
deeds. 

D'Annunzio,  although  well  over  fifty  years  of  age, 
and  in  most  countries  judged  too  old  for  actual  war- 
fare, has  been  one  of  Italy's  most  daring  fighters. 
He  was  known  throughout  his  native  land  by  his  writ- 
ings, and  his  fiery,  passionate  pleas  published  in  all  Ital- 
ian cities  before  Italy  entered  the  war,  helped  his 
countrymen  see  the  right  and  decide  to  fight  for  it. 

As  soon  as  Italy  decided  to  join  the  AlUes,  D'Annunzio 

182 


DARING  THE  UNDARABLE  183 

sought  and  was  granted  a  post  of  great  danger.  He 
became  an  aviator,  in  the  same  corps  with  his  son. 

Austria,  whenever  possible,  sent  aviators  over  Venice 
and  other  Itahan  cities  to  drop  bombs,  although  this 
warfare  upon  non-combatant  women  and  children  was 
contrary  to  international  law.  The  Austrians,  like  the 
Germans,  seemed  to  believe  that  it  was  wise  for  them 
to  use  any  means  to  win. 

In  August,  1918,  D'Annunzio  commanded  a  flight 
of  eight  bombing  airplanes  over  Vienna.  It  was  a 
long-distance  record  for  a  squadron  of  planes.  Leaving 
the  Italian  lines  at  half  past  five  in  the  morning,  they 
flew  to  Vienna  and  back,  over  six  hundred  miles, 
reaching  home  in  about  sixteen  hours.  It  was  neces- 
sary for  them  to  fly  very  high,  at  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand feet,  to  cross  the  Alps  and  to  escape  the  Austrian 
barrage.  All  the  machines  returned  but  one,  which 
was  obliged  to  land  on  account  of  engine  trouble. 

More  than  a  million  printed  declarations,  or  state- 
ments, were  dropped  on  Vienna  to  inform  the  Austrians 
of  the  real  state  of  affairs.  In  Germany  and  Austria, 
the  people  were  allowed  to  know  only  what  their  rulers 
thought  would  be  good  for  them  to  know.  D'Annunzio 
wanted  to  show  them  that  Italians  could  drop  bombs 
on  Vienna  if  they  desired  to  do  so,  or  thought  it  right 
to  do  so. 

The  manifestoes,  as  they  are  called,  were  in  Ger- 
man, and  read  as  follows : 


1S4  LEST  WE   FORGET 

We  Italians  do  not  war  upon  women,  children,  and  old  men  — 
but  only  upon  your  blind,  obstinate,  and  cruel  rulers,  who  can- 
not give  you  either  peace  or  food,  but  trj-  to  keep  you  quiet  with 
hatred  and  falsehood. 

You  are  said  to  be  intelligent.  Why  do  you  wear  the  uniform 
of  Prussia?  It  is  suicide  for  you  to  continue  the  war.  The 
victory  that  would  end  the  war  promised  to  you  by  the  Prussians 
is  like  the  wheat  they  promised  you  from  Ukraine.  You  will  all 
die  while  waiting  for  it.  People  of  Vienna,  think  for  yourselves  ! 
Awake  ! 

In  February,  1918,  D'Annunzio  with  twenty-nine 
companions  set  out  on  three  small  torpedo  boats  to 
destroy  some  Austrian  warships  discovered  by  an  Ital- 
ian aviator  to  be  lying  hidden  in  the  Bay  of  Buc- 
cari.  To  get  at  them,  it  was  necessary  to  steam 
past  the  Austrian  fortifications.  Discovery  meant 
death. 

It  is  not  strange  that  D'Annunzio  was  the  master- 
mind of  this  expedition,  for  he  loves  the  sea,  as  he 
says,  with  all  the  strength  of  his  soul.  He  was  born 
on  a  yacht  at  sea  and  has  written  much  about  ships 
and  the  ocean.  He  has  taken  as  his  motto  three 
Latin  words,  ''Memento  audere  semper,"  which  mean, 
"Remember  always  to  dare." 

As  they  steam  away  from  the  Italian  shores,  D'An- 
nunzio talks  to  his  brave  companions.  He  says, 
''Sailors,  companions,  what  we  are  about  to  do  is  a 
task  for  silent  men.  Silence  is  our  trusty  helmsman. 
For  that  reason  I  need  not  urge  you  with  many  words 


DARING   THE   UNDARABLE  185 

to  be  brave,  for  I  know  you  are  already  eager  to  match 
your  courage  against  the  unknown  danger.  If  I  were 
to  tell  you  where  we  are  bound,  you  would  hardly  be 
able  to  keep  from  dancing  for  joy.  We  are  only  a 
handful  of  men  on  three  small  ships,  but  our  hearts 
are  stronger  than  the  motors,  and  our  wills  can  go 
further  than  the  torpedoes. 

^'We  carry  with  us,  to  leave  for  a  souvenir  for  the 
enemy,  three  bottles  sealed  and  crowned  with  the 
flaming  tricolor  of  Italy.  We  will  leave  them  to- 
night floating  on  the  smooth  surface  of  the  bay  amid 
the  wreckage  of  the  vessels  we  have  struck." 

Then  D'Annunzio  reads  to  them  the  letter  which 
he  has  written  and  inclosed  in  each  bottle,  ridiculing 
the  Austrians  because  they  have  hidden  their  ships 
safely  behind  the  guns  of  the  forts  and  do  not  have 
courage  to  come  out  in  the  open  sea.  He  says  the 
Italians  are  always  ready  'Ho  dare  the  undarable," 
and  that  they  have  come  to  make  the  enemy  whom 
they  hate  most  of  all,  the  laughingstock  of  the  world. 

He  goes  on  speaking  to  the  sailors:  /'Because  this 
thing  that  we  attempt  is  so  dangerous,  we  have  already 
conquered  Fate.  To-morrow  your  names  will  be 
honored  in  all  Italy,  and  will  shine  as  golden  as  the 
torpedo.  Therefore,  every  one  to-day  must  give  all 
of  himself  and  more  than  all  of  himself,  all  of  his 
strength  and  courage,  and  even  more.  Do  you  swear 
it?    Answer  me." 


186  LEST  WE   FORGET 

The  sailors  cry,  "Wc  swear  it!     Viva  Tltalia!" 

And  D'Anniinzio  answers,  ''Memento  audere  sem- 
per." 

They  have  been  steaming  for  twenty-four  hours 
and  are  now  very  near  the  enemy's  guns  guarding 
the  entrance  to  the  bay.  The  very  audacity  of  the 
Italians  seems  to  save  them,  for  they  steam  on  un- 
challenged, and  when  near  enough,  discharge  a  tor- 
pedo at  the  giant  Austrian  dreadnought.  The  ship 
is  struck  and  all  is  excitement  and  confusion.  Rockets 
are  sent  up  to  alarm  and  inform  the  forts.  The 
Italian  torpedo  boats  turn  for  home.  D'Annunzio 
says,  ''The  sky  is  starry,  the  sea  is  starry,  and  our 
hearts  are  starry,  too." 

One  of  their  three  ships  is  soon  disabled  and  falls 
behind.  The  other  two  turn  back  to  help  her,  and 
this  is  what  probably  saves  them  all ;  for  the  Austrian 
forts,  seeing  them  sailing  into  the  harbor,  think  they 
are  Austrian  vessels  and  do  not  fire  upon  them.  When 
they  steam  out  of  the  harbor,  the  forts  think  they 
are  Austrian  torpedo  boats  in  pursuit  of  the  Italians 
who  must  have  escaped  in  the  darkness.  As  D'An- 
nunzio says,  "Our  very  audacity  has  conquered  Fate." 

They  sank  dne  of  the  largest  of  the  Austrian  dread- 
noughts, and  then  returned  in  safety  to  Italy. 

It  remained,  however,  for  another  Italian  naval 
officer  to  outdo  those  who  "dared  the  undarable"  at 
Buccari.     Lieutenant    Luigi  Rizzo,  with    two    small 


DARING  THE   UNDARABLE  187 

motor  patrol  boats,  succeeded  in  sinking  two  huge 
dreadnoughts  protected  by  an  escort  of  fast  destroy- 
ers.    His  story  of  the  encounter  is  as  follows : 

We  were  returning  to  our  base  just  before  dawn  on  July  10, 
1918,  after  a  night  of  dull,  monotonous  work  along  the  enemy's 
coast,  when  I  saw  smoke  coming  from  ships  nearly  two  miles 
away.  I  thought  we  had  been  discovered  and  were  being  pur- 
sued. The  only  way  I  could  know  what  we  had  to  contend  with 
was  to  get  nearer  the  enemy,  so  I  turned  the  two  boats  in  my 
command  toward  the  distant  smoke. 

Soon  I  discovered  that  it  was  two  of  Austria's  largest  dread- 
noughts protected  by  a  great  convoy  of  destroyers.  Evidently 
because  we  were  so  small,  we  had  not  been  seen  in  the  darkness ; 
and  although  we  were  poorly  armed,  with  only  two  large  torpedoes 
for  each  of  our  two  boats  and  eight  smaller  ones  to  throw  by  hand, 
we  crept  ahead  until  we  were  inside  the  line  of  the  destroyers,  and 
slowly  and  quietly  approaching  the  dreadnoughts.  I  headed  for 
one  of  them  which  proved  to  be  the  St.  Stephen,  and  Lieutenant 
Aonzo,  in  charge  of  the  other  boat,  made  for  the  other,  the  Prince 
Eugene. 

Then  the  watch  on  the  dreadnoughts  discovered  us  and  began 
to  fire  at  us  with  their  small  guns.  How  we  escaped  destruction 
is  a  miracle.  Lieutenant  Aonzo  sent  his  first  torpedo,  and  missed  ; 
but  the  second  struck  the  giant  fairly.  Both  of  my  torpedoes 
struck  the  St.  Stephen. 

After  that  all  was  confusion  and  excitement.  We  were  fired 
upon  and  encircled  by  a  muddled  crowd  of  destroyers.  I  turned 
my  boat  to  escape.  A  destroyer  stood  directly  in  my  way  and  I 
veered  off  and  almost  touched  the  bow  of  the  sinking  St.  Stephen 
in  passing.  The  destroyers  gave  their  attention  to  me  and  this 
allowed  Lieutenant  Aonzo  to  escape. 


188  LEST  WE  FORGET 

I  saw  that  I  would  soon  be  overtaken,  so  I  sent  two  torpedoes 
at  the  nearest  destroyer.  The  first  missed,  but  the  second  hit 
the  mark.  There  was  a  tremendous  explosion.  The  destroyer 
wobbled  and  began  to  turn  over.  I  put  on  all  power  and  es- 
caped in  the  darkness. 

The  whole  thing  did  not  take  over  fifteen  minutes.  When  we 
were  sure  of  our  escape,  the  five  boys  of  my  crew  went  nearly 
mad  with  joy,  hugging,  cheering,  kissing,  and  crying  in  their 
excitement  at  what  we  had  done.  They  hoisted  our  largest  flag 
and  trimmed  our  boat  with  bunting.  A  short  way  from  us  we 
could  see  that  Lieutenant  Aonzo  was  doing  the  same. 

We  knew  the  reception  we  would  have  when  those  at  home 
learned  the  story,  but  we  did  not  expect  so  much.  The  King 
decorated  and  honored  us,  the  Admiralty  gave  us  prize  money, 
and  the  people  added  their  contributions  to  it,  for  they  declared 
we  doubtless  saved  the  city  of  Ancona  from  bombardment. 

Lieutenant  Rizzo  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Commandant  although  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age. 

The  St.  Stephen  sank  where  she  was  torpedoed. 
The  Prince  Eugene  was  able  to  make  for  home,  but 
sank  before  she  reached  there,  a  short  way  from 
the  Austrian  coast.  At  the  beginning  of  1918,  Austria 
had  four  of  these  giant  dreadnoughts ;  on  July  1 1 ,  she 
had  but  one  still  floating. 


KILLING  THE   SOUL 

AS  the  centuries  pass,  the  greatest  glory  of  any 
nation,  its  highest  satisfaction  and  pride,  is 
in  the  works  of  art  which  it  possesses.  In  each  coun- 
try there  are  works  of  art  which  have  been  preserved 
through  many  generations.  They  are  the  great  in- 
heritance of  all  the  past  ages.  Every  nation  prizes 
this  inheritance  and  wishes  to  hold  it  in  safekeeping 
for  still  another  generation ;  for  into  these  creations 
of  genius,  men  have  put  their  souls. 

If  a  famous  inventor  of  machinery  dies  and  the 
particular  machine  which  he  made  is  destroyed,  there 
are  yet  other  machines  left,  which  have  been  made 
after  his  pattern,  usually  much  better  than  the  first 
one  which  he  constructed. 

While  steamboats,  railways,  telegraphs,  and  auto- 
mobiles are  very  useful,  they  are  not  so  mysterious 
and  individual  but  that  they  may  be  exactly  copied 
and  many,  many  duplicates  be  made  and  used  by 
every  country  under  the  sun. 

If  all  the  music  of  the  great  composer  Beethoven 
should  be  destroyed  so  that  no  copy  remained  in 
the  world,  there  perhaps  would  be  some  master  musi- 

189 


100  LEST  WE   FORGET 

ciaiis  of  to-day  who  could  remember  and  write  down 
the  notes,  and  so  reproduce  the  wonderful  composi- 
tions once  more. 

But  there  have  been  artists  who  have  seen  visions 
and  dreamed  dreams  of  God  and  heaven  and  the 
best  and  happiest  things  they  had  found  in  life.  Such 
a  one,  with  the  power  of  his  great  genius,  has  made 
the  dream  into  a  picture,  a  painting,  a  statue,  or  a 
wonderful  building,  which  no  other  person  in  the 
world  is  able  to  copy  exactly.  Indeed,  there  are 
many  half-finished  works  which  no  artist,  however 
great,  has  been  able  to  complete.  The  creator  has 
put  into  the  work  his  soul,  the  best  of  all  he  thought 
and  knew.  So  when  many  artists  with  their  many 
dreams  brought  their  finest  works  together  into  one 
place,  it  was  certain  that  forever  that  place  would 
be  cherished  and  the  wonder  of  it  would  belong  to 
all  people  everywhere.  While  the  artists  have  died 
long  ago,  their  spirits,  their  very  souls,  seem  alive 
to-da}'  in  the  beautiful  art  works  which  they  have 
left.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  speak  of  great 
artists  who  lived  eight  or  nine  hundred  years  ago,  as 
if  they  were  still  living  to-day,  for  their  souls  are 
alive  in  what  they  so  wonderfully  made.  Those  who 
look  upon  these  Avorks  are  mysteriouslj^  inspired  to 
live  better  and  happier  lives  themselves. 

The  loveliest  art  works  in  France  are  its  Gothic 
cathedrals,  and  of  them  all,  the  Cathedral  at  Rheims 


RuEiMS  Cathedral 
191 


192  LEST   WE   FORGET 

was  probably  the  most  wonderful.  No  monument 
of  ancient  or  modern  times  is  more  widely  known  to 
the  world.  It  was  built  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  ex- 
pressed all  the  aspiration  and  faith  of  the  people  of 
that  time.  For  seven  hundred  3^ears  it  has  been 
cherished  for  its  great  beaut}^  for  the  memory  of  the 
men  who  made  it  so  beautiful,  and  for  the  sacred 
services  which  have  been  held  in  it.  All  the  kings 
of  France,  except  six,  were  crow^ned  in  it.  One  of 
the  most  striking  services  was  the  coronation  of 
Charles  Yll,  while  Joan  of  Arc  stood  beside  him 
with  the  sacred  banner  in  her  hands. 

The  cathedral  held  the  works  of  many  ancient 
artists.  It  was  especially  famous  for  its  rose  win- 
dow, in  which  the  figures  of  prophets  and  martyrs 
w^ere  glorified  by  the  afternoon  sun.  Beneath  the 
window  was  a  magnificent  gallery.  Statues  of  angels, 
a  beautiful  statue  of  Christ,  and  one  of  the  Madonna 
were  to  be  found  in  this  w^onderful  building.  The 
stained  glass  window^s  were  all  very  beautiful.  Even 
the  bells  in  the  tow^er  w^ere  famous. 

With  the  excuse  that  the  French  were  using  the 
great  towers  of  the  old  cathedral  as  observation  posts, 
the  Germans  bombarded  and  destroyed  the  church. 
The  roof  was  battered  in  and  burned,  the  stained 
glass  window^s  broken,  the  famous  bells  pounded  into  a 
shapeless  mass,  of  metal,  and  the  wonderful  statues 
and  decorations  hopelessly  destroyed.     Only  the  statue 


KILLING  THE  SOUL  193 

of  Joan  of  Arc,  in  front  of  the  cathedral,  remained  un- 
injured, as  though  to  say,  ''I  am  the  soul  of  France. 
You  cannot  injure  or  kill  me."  Afterwards  the  Ger- 
mans bombarded  the  church  a  second  time,  attempt- 
ing to  tear  down  even  the  walls  that  were  still  standing. 

Even  savages  in  war  respect  sacred  places,  but  the 
Germans  deliberately  aimed  their  guns  at  them.  No 
excuse  can  ever  be  accepted  by  the  civilized  world  for 
this  deliberate  destruction,  and  certainly  the  excuse 
cannot  be  accepted  by  military  men  that  the  act  was 
due  to  bad  marksmanship. 

Other  ancient  churches  were  horribly  damaged.  The 
Germans  stabled  their  horses  in  them,  broke  down  the 
candelabra  and  statues,  and  carried  away  many 
valuable  relics. 

The  burning  of  the  University  buildings  at  Louvain 
completely  destroyed  the  treasures  that  had  been  pre- 
served for  centuries.  Priceless  manuscripts,  paintings 
that  can  never  be  replaced,  and  valuable  books  in 
rare  bindings  were  lost  to  the  world. 

The  Germans  scornfully  but  ignorantly  declared, 
''Why  should  we  care  if  every  monument  in  the  world 
is  destroyed?  We  can  build  better  ones."  But  the 
German  idea  of  beauty  is  great  strength  and  huge 
size.  Their  own  public  buildings  and  statues  are 
often  horrible  in  color,  immense  and  awkward  in 
appearance.  They  give  people  the  impression  of  a 
fearsome  brute   spreading   himself   out   before   them. 


194  LEST  WE  FORGET 

With  few  exceptions,  there  are  no  daint}^  figures  and 
designs,  nor  any  beautiful  thoughts  and  feelings,  as 
shown  in  the  work  of  real  artists. 

The  old  cathedral  at  Rheims  can  never  be  restored. 
No  one  can  ever  bring  back  the  old  beauty  and  color ; 
no  one  can  revive  those  statues  and  paintings  so  that 
ever  again  they  will  seem  to  breathe  forth  the  soul  of 
the  artists  who  fashioned  them  seven  hundred  years 
ago.  The  walls  may  be  rebuilt,  and  artists  of  to- 
morrow ma}"  beautify  them,  but  the  spirit  of  the  great 
men  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  gone  —  it  has  fled  from 
the  place  forever.  Thus  the  Germans,  not  content 
with  killing  the  bodies  of  men,  have  in  this  w^ay  killed 
the  souls  of  some  of  the  greatest  of  the  geniuses  of  the 
past.  How  can  she  pay  the  damage,  or  meet  a  fitting 
punishment  ? 


What  a  peerless  jewel  was  this  cathedral,  more  beau- 
tiful even  than  "Notre  Dame  in  Paris,  more  open  to  the 
light,  more  ethereal,  more  soaringly  uplifted  with  its 
columns  like  long  reeds  surprisingly  fragile  considering 
the  weight  they  bear,  a  miracle  of  the  religious  art  of 
France,  a  masterpiece  which  the  faith  of  our  ancestors 
had  called  into  being  in  all  its  mystic  purity. 

Pierre  Loti. 


THE   RUSSIAN   REVOLUTION 

THE  controller,  as  he  is  called  on  the  Siberian 
railroad,  was  passing  through  the  cars  to  see 
that  every  passenger  had  a  ticket.  He  did  not  notice 
the  mooshik,  which  is  what  the  Russian  peasant  is 
called  in  his  own  language,  hiding  under  one  of  the 
car  seats  with  a  large  bundle  in  front  of  him ;  or  if 
he  saw  him,  he  passed  on  without  seeming  to  have 
done  so.  ...... 

The  mooshik  had  given  the  brakeman  a  small  sum 
of  money,  about  fifty  cents  in  our  currency,  to  let 
him  hide  there  whenever  the  controller  came  around, 
and  in  this  way  ride  from  Petrograd,  or  Petersburg 
as  the  Bolsheviki  renamed  it  after  the  revolution,  to 
Vladivostok,  a  distance  of  about  four  thousand  miles. 

Now  this  mooshik  did  not  need  to  go  to  Vladivostok ; 
but  his  Russian  nature  made  him  go,  go  somewhere,  it 
made  little  difference  where.  He  had  been  the  year 
before  to  Jerusalem,  but  this  was  for  religious  reasons, 
and  now  he  must  go  again  for  no  reason  except  that 
from  within  came  the  impulse  to  travel,  an  impulse 
too  strong  to  be  denied.  The  Russian  government 
did  not  attempt  to  discourage  the  people  from  travel- 

19.5 


196  LEST   WE   FORGET 

inc;,  but  actually  made  it  easier  by  fixing  fares  for 
long  distances  at  very  small  amounts.  This  traveler 
did  not  have  even  that  small  amount,  but  he  found 
it  easy  with  a  smaller  one  to  bribe  his  way  in  Russia. 

There  is  a  societ}^  in  Russia,  whose  members  pledge 
themselves  never  to  remain  more  than  three  days 
in  any  one  place  ;  and  it  is  said  that  wealthy  Russians, 
after  their  children  have  grown  up,  will  often  divide 
their  property  and  with  staff  in  hand  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives  in  traveling  from  one  holy  place 
to  another. 

A  dream,  a  vision,  leads  the  wealthy  man  to  do 
this,  and  perhaps  this  is  true  also  of  the  mooshik: 
but  it  is  as  likely  that  he  goes  because  of  the  reality, 
the  real  people,  the  real  village,  the  real  home  that 
he  leaves  behind.  He  is  uneducated,  for  only  seven 
out  of  every  hundred  can  read  and  write  in  Russia. 
He  lives  in  a  shed  as  filthy  and  bad  smelling  as  a  pig- 
pen, or  rather  he  starves  there,  starves  both  for  food 
and  for  comfort.  Black  bread,  potatoes,  and  some- 
times cabbage,  make  up  his  '^balanced  diet."  He 
cannot  afford  money  for  meat,  eggs,  milk,  butter, 
sugar,  or  any  of  the  many  other  ordinary  foods  of 
the  American  home,  nor  for  the  light  of  lamp  or  candle. 

It  is  not  strange  that  such  mooshiki  constantly 
move  on  and  have  no  love  for  their  native  place,  and 
have  never  established  an  '^Old  Home  Day."  It  is 
not  so  strange  that  their  former  Tsar,  Peter  the  Great, 


THE  RUSSIAN   REVOLUTION  197 

said,  ''One  can  treat  other  European  people  as  human 
beings,  but  I  have  to  do  with  cattle."  Are  they  not 
treated  like  cattle? 

But  it  is  strange  that  a  Russian  writer  can  say  of 
these  people,  and  say  it  with  truth,  ''A  Russian  may 
steal  and  drink  and  cheat  until  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  live  with  him ;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  it  all,  you  feel 
a  charm  in  him  that  draws  you  to  him,  and  that  there 
is  something  more  in  him,  some  good  or  promise  of 
good,  that  raises  him  above  the  level  of  all  other 
races  you  have  ever  met."  It  is  strange  that  he  is 
so  religious,  so  pitying  of  others,  and  so  critical  of 
himself ;  that  he  has  so  many  noble  visions  and  dreams 
for  which  he  is  ready  and  willing  to  die. 

Uneducated,  with  little  or  no  respect  for  truth  or 
honesty  in  their  own  dealings,  with  no  experience  in 
government," having  always  been  robbed  by  the  aris- 
tocracy, and  now  eager  and  willing  in  turn  to  rob 
them,  but  with  dreams  of  a  society  of  men  where  all 
crime  and  hardship  and  unnecessary  suffering  are 
abolished,  where  there  are  no  grafters,  no  self-seekers, 
no  wrong-doers,  no  conflict,  no  robbery,  no  war  — 
these  Russian  mooshiki,  workmen,  soldiers,  and  sailors, 
as  a  result  of  a  revolution,  found  themselves  attempting 
to  govern  a  nation  nearly  twice  as  large  in  population 
as  the  United  States.  There  are  indeed  two  problems 
before  the  world,  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy, 
and  to  make  democracy  safe  for  the  world. 


lOS  LEST  ^YE  FORGET 

History  tells  the  story  of  many  revolutions.  The 
story  of  the  American  Revolution,  which  was  an  up- 
rising of  the  American  colonies  against  the  mother 
country,  and  that  of  the  French  Revolution,  in  which 
the  laborers  and  peasants  and  some  others  rose  against 
the  extravagant  and  autocratic  rulers  of  France,  are 
well  known  to  Americans. 

When  the  real  character  and  aims  of  the  German 
autocracy  were  made  plain  to  the  world,  all  free  people 
hoped  for  and  expected  the  World  War  to  end  in  a 
revolution  of  the  German  people.  But  the  mass  of 
the  German  people  are  kept  ignorant  of  what  the 
rest  of  the  world  feels  and  thinks  about  them,  and 
have  so  long  been  trained  to  unquestioning  obedience 
that  a  German  revolution  can  come,  if  ever,  only 
after  some  unexpected  and  appalling  German  defeat. 

It  has  been  said  that  if,  at  the  time  the  Russian 
revolution  broke  out,  a  few  regiments  of  trained  veteran 
soldiers  had  been  in  Petrograd,  the  revolution  would 
have  been  put  down  by  these  soldiers,  to  whom  obe- 
dience to  commands  of  superiors  had  become  second 
nature.  Those  on  guard  in  the  city  were  newly- 
formed  regiments  recently  trained  and  taken  into 
the  service. 

The  Russian  revolution  of  March  9-13,  1917,  over- 
threw Tsar  Nicholas  and  the  Romanoff  dynasty.  The 
Tsar  has  since  been  shot,  and  his  son  and  heir  has 
died  —  from  exposure,  it  was  reported.     When  Tsar 


THE   RUSSIAN   REVOLUTION  199 

Nicholas  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne  of  Russia, 
the  Russian  people  rejoiced  and  felt  certain  better 
days  were  at  hand,  and  that  they  should  love  and 
loyally  support  the  new  Tsar.  He  had  his  oppor- 
tunity and  he  threw  it  aside.  Instead  of  granting 
larger  liberty  and  a  greater  part  in  the  government 
to  the  common  people  when  they  petitioned  for  it, 
he  replied,  ''Let  it  be  known  that  I  shall  guard  the 
autocracy  as  firmly  as  did  my  father."  His  father 
was  as  autocratic  as  the  German  Kaiser. 

Tsar  Nicholas  was  weak  and  fickle.  He  made 
promises  when  in  trouble  and  refused  to  keep  his 
promises  when  trouble  seemed  avoided.  The  Russian 
people  were  much  disappointed  in  him,  and  every 
year  their  disappointment  grew.  Some  dreadful  mas- 
sacres of  workers  at  Jaroslav,  of  peasants  in  Kharkov, 
and  of  miners  on  the  Lena  changed  their  disappoint- 
ment to  hatred. 

As  the  Tsar  grew  older  he  drew  away  from  touch 
with  the  people,  and  lived  in  his  palaces,  leaving 
affairs  of  state  to  his  ministers  who  were  chosen  from 
a  small  and  selfish  clique.  They  brought  on  the  war 
with  Japan,  and  its  failure  was  due  to  them.  When 
Russia  was  defeated,  the  ])eople  were  on  the  brink  of 
a  revolution  ;  but  the  Tsar  promised  them  a  constitu- 
tion, and  trouble  was  put  off  for  a  while.  When  the 
people  were  quiet  again,  he  broke  his  word  and  did 
not  give  them  a  constitution.     Instead,  in  every  way 


200  LEST  WE  FORGET 

possible,  he  lessened  the  power  and  freedom  of  the 
l")eople,  and  took  revenge  upon  those  who  had  caused 
the  trouble  by  havmg  them  arrested  and  exiled,  or 
executed. 

He  was  very  much  under  the  influence  of  his  wife. 
She  was  even  weaker  in  many  w^ays  than  he  was  and 
seemed  to  be  in  the  power  of  an  ignorant  and  wicked 
peasant  who  claimed  to  be  a  monk  and  was  called 
Itasputin,  the  Black  Monk.  His  influence  over  the 
weak  Tsar  and  the  weaker  Tsarina  so  angered  and 
disgusted  some  of  the  young  Russian  leaders  that 
finally  the}^  had  him  secretly  put  to  death  —  but  not 
until  he  had  helped  to  set  every  one  against  Tsar 
Nicholas  and  his  wife. 

For  a  while  after  the  World  War  broke  out,  matters 
seemed  to  be  going  better.  The  people  w^anted  the 
influence  of  Germany  destroyed,  and  they  expected 
the  Russian  army  would  soon  be  in  Berlin.  But 
when  defeat  and  disaster  overwhelmed  the  armies 
through  the  treachery  of  government  officials,  the 
people  began  to  turn  and  to  condemn  Rasputin,  the 
Tsarina,  and  the  Tsar.  It  is  said  that  Rasputin  had 
one  of  his  friends  serving  as  physician  to  the  Tsar 
and  that  he  kept  Nicholas  drugged.  It  hardly  seems 
possible  that  this  can  be  true,  but  at  any  rate,  the 
Tsar  seemed  to  show  no  sense  in  his  dealing  with  the 
situation.  Instead  of  appointing  better  ministers,  he 
appointed  worse  ones,  suggested  by  Rasputin.     Every 


THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION  201 

one  became  disgusted  and  felt  that  only  a  revolution 
would  save  Russia.  If  it  had  not  come  from  the 
people,  it  would  have  come  from  the  nobles.  It  was 
looked  forward  to  by  all,  but  not  until  after  the  war. 

There  was  suffering  everywhere  in  the  capital, 
Petrograd.  Living  was  very  high.  It  was  difficult 
to  get  enough  to  eat  or  to  get  carried  from  place  to 
place.  Steam  trains  and  trolleys  were  few  and  ir- 
regular. Though  there  was'  plenty  of  food  in  Russia, 
the  railroads  were  in  such  bad  shape  that  it  did  not 
reach  the  capital.  But  the  Russians  were  fighting 
Germany,  and  no  one  expected  or  seemed  to  desire 
a  revolution  until  after  the  war.  Wlien  it  did  come,  it 
was  not  planned,  but  seemed  to  come  as  if  by  accident. 

Trouble  began  in  the  factory  districts,  in  connection 
with  bread  riots.  Stones  were  thrown,  and  some 
damage  was  done  to  property.  Then  crowds  gathered 
and  marched  up  and  down  the  streets  crying  for  bread, 
singing  revolutionary  songs,  and  carrying  red  flags. 

The  police  were  not  able  to  handle  the  situation 
alone,  and  the  soldiers  were  called  upon.  These  were 
Cossacks  and  recently  trained.  There  was  bad  feeling 
between  the  police  and  the  Cossacks,  and  so  the  Cos- 
sacks were  inclined  to  listen  to  the  people  and  to 
become  friendly  with  them. 

On  Sunday,  March  11,  the  factory  hands  planned 
to  make  a  great  demonstration.  The  Tsar,  learning 
of  it,  ordered  notices  to  be  posted  warning  the  people 


202  LEST   WE   FORGET 

that  if  1 1 u\v  gathered,  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  fire 
upon  them.  A  few  people  did  gather,  and  they  were 
fired  ii])on  by  machine  guns  and  several  were  kilkni. 
The  next  morning,  the  officers  who  had  ordered  the 
soldiers  to  fire  upon  the  people  were  killed  by  their 
own  men.  I'hcn  notices  were  posted  by  the  govern- 
ment saying  that  unless  the  rioters  went  to  work, 
they  would  immediately  be  sent  to  the  front. 

Other  regiments  revolted,  and  there  was  a  battle 
between  these  and  the  few  who  remained  loyal  to  the 
government.  It  was  not  a  serious  battle;  but  some 
were  killed  and  the  loyal  regiments  were  defeated. 
Then  soldiers  and  people  ran  through  the  streets 
crying,  ''Down  with  the  Government." 

The  Tsar  was  at  the  front.  Had  he  been  in  Petro- 
grad,  he  might  have  saved  the  government  by  making 
some  new  promises  ;  but,  as  it  was,  it  soon  fell. 

As  soon  as  the  government  was  overthrown  and 
the  Tsar  taken  prisoner,  those  who  had  long  sought 
for  a  revolution  and  had  been  forced  to  flee  from 
Russia,  came  rushing  back  from  Switzerland,  Greece, 
France,  and  the  United  States.  They  were  the  real 
leaders  after  thej^  arrived. 

An  American  who  was  in  Petrograd  at  the  time 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  revolution  : 

Their  fii-st  demand  was  that  all  prison  doors  should  be  opened 
and  that  the  oppressed  the  world  over  should  be  freed. 

The  revolution  was  picturesque   and   full  of  color.     Nearly 


THE  RUSSIAN   REVOLUTION  203 

every  morning  one  could  see  regiment  after  regiment,  soldiers, 
Cossacks,  and  sailors,  with  theii'  regimental  colors,  and  bands, 
and  revolutionary  flags,  marching  to  the  Duma  to  take  the  new 
oath  of  allegiance.  They  were  cheered ;  they  were  blessed ; 
liandkerchiefs  were  waved ;  hats  were  raised,  as  marks  of 
appreciation  and  gratitude  to  these  men,  without  whose  help  there 
would  have  been  no  revolution.  The  enthusiasm  became  so 
contagious  that  men  and  women,  young  and  old,  high  and  low, 
fell  in  alongside,  or  behind,  joinetl  in  the  singing  of  the  Mar- 
seillaise, and  walked  to  the  Duma  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  having  taken  it,  they  felt  as  purified  as  if  they  had  partaken 
of  the  communion. 

Another  picturesque  sight  was  the  army  trucks  filled  with 
armed  soldiers,  red  handkerchiefs  tied. to  their  bayonets,  dashing 
up  and  down  the  streets,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
the  citizens,  but  really  for  the  mere  joy  of  riding  about  and  being 
cheered.  One  of  these  trucks  stands  out  vividly  in  my  mind  :  it 
contained  about  twenty  soldiers,  having  in  their  midst  a  beautiful 
young  woman  with  a  red  banner,  and  a  young  hoodlum  astride 
the  engine. 

No  one  knows,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  of  the 
World  War,  what  the  result  of  the  Russian  revolution 
will  be.  It  has  so  far  left  Russia  a  prey  to  Germany, 
but  Germany  is  showing  such  criminal  greed  and  un- 
fairness that  she  may  find  her  easily  gained  plunder 
will  be  her  destruction,  like  the  drowning  robber  with 
his  pockets  filled  with  gold. 

The  Russian  mooshik  has  a  motto,  or  rather  a 
philosophy,  which  is  expressed  by  the  word  "  ni- 
tchevo."     This   word    has    several    meanings,    one    of 


204  LEST  WE  FORGET 

which  is  "nothing."  Just  what  the  mooshik  has  in 
mind  when  he  says  "nitchevo^^  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  story. 

When  Bismarck  was  Prussian  ambassador  at  the 
court  of  Tsar  Alexander  II,  he  was  invited  by  the 
Tsar  to  take  part  in  a  great  hunt,  a  dozen  or  more 
miles  out  of  the  capital. 

Bismarck  started  with  his  own  horses  and  sledge 
but  soon  met  with  a  serious  accident,  and  was  obliged 
to  call  upon  the  Russian  peasants,  or  mooshiki,  to 
help  him  by  providing  a  horse,  sledge,  and  driver. 
Soon  a  peasant  appeared  with  a  very  small  and  raw- 
boned  horse  attached  to  a  sledge  that  seemed  about 
ready  to  fall  to  pieces. 

''That  looks  more  like  a  rat  than  a  horse,"  growled 
Bismarck,  but  he  got  into  the  sledge. 

The  peasant  answered  but  one  word,  ''Nitchevo.^' 

Soon  the  horse  was  flying  over  the  snow  at  a  great 
rate  of  speed.  There  was  no  road  to  be  seen  and  the 
peasant  was  heading  for  the  woods.  ''Look  out!" 
yelled  Bismarck.  "You  will  throw  me  out!"  But 
the  peasant  rephed,  "Nitchevo.^^ 

In  a  moment  they  were  among  the  trees  and  were 
turning,  now  this  way,  now  that,  to  avoid  hitting  them. 
The  raw-boned  horse  had  not  lessened  his  speed  in 
the  least.  Suddenly  there  was  a  crash.  The  sledge 
had  skidded  and  struck  a  tree.  The  peasant  and  his 
passenger  were  thrown  out  headlong. 


THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION  205 

Bismarck  was  a  man  of  fiery  temper.  When  he 
had  picked  himself  up,  he  rushed  up  to  the  peasant, 
who  was  trying  to  stop  his  bleeding  nose,  and  yelled, 
'^I  will  kill  you."  The  mooshik  did  not  seem  at  all 
frightened  or  troubled,  and  answered  simply,  "  Ni- 
tchevo.'^  He  drew  a  piece  of  rope  from  the  sledge  and 
began  to  tie  the  broken  parts  together. 

"I  shall  be  late  at  the  hunt,"  yelled  the  angry 
Bismarck. 

"Nitchevo,''  replied  the  peasant. 

While  the  sledge  was  being  repaired,  Bismarck 
noticed  a  small  piece  of  iron  broken  from  the  runner 
and  lying  on  the  snow.  He  picked  it  up  and  put  it 
in  his  pocket. 

The  mooshik  soon  had  the  sledge  ready  for  them, 
and  this  time  he  reached  the  hunting  lodge  with  his 
distinguished  passenger  without  further  accident  or 
delay. 

The  Tsar  and  his  companions  laughed  heartily  at 
the  story,  as  related  by  Bismarck,  and  then  explained 
to  the  Prussian  that  by  nitchevo  the  mooshik  meant 
that  nothing  mattered,  that  they  would  get  where 
they  had  started  for,  if  they  did  not  let  accidents 
or  circumstances  turn  them  from  it. 

When  Bismarck  returned  to  the  capital  he  had  a 
ring  made  from  the  piece  of  iron,  and  on  the  inside 
of  it  he  had  inscribed  the  word  nitchevo. 

The  Russian  mooshik  of  to-day  is  the  same  in  char- 


206  Lr-:sT  WK  f()H(;ft 

acter  nnd  beliof  as  the  moos/iik  that  I'pplied  ''Ni- 
tchcro"  to  Bismarck.  To  (lormany.  to  tlio  Kaiser,  to 
the  world,  the  Russians,  amid  all  tlieii'  sorrows  and 
troubles,  are  saying  " Nitchevo.''  They  will  reach  their 
goal  at  length,  for  they  look  upon  the  dangers  and 
delays  as  nothing. 


The  Russian  word  Bolsheviki,  used  to  designate  the 
revolutionary  party  which  was  in  power  in  Russia  in 
1918,  is  composed  of  two  words  :  holsh,  meaning  many  ; 
and  vik,  meaning  most.  Bolsheviki  means  the  great- 
est number,  or  the  common  people,  as  compared  with 
the  few,  or  the  aristocrac^^  Bolshevik,  with  the  ac- 
cent on  the  first  syllable,  is  the  singular  and  means  one 
of  the  greatest  number.  Bolsheviki,  with  accents  on 
the  second  and  on  the  last  syllables,  is  the  plural.  Simi- 
larly mooshik  means  a  peasant,  and  mooshiki  means 
peasants. 


A   BALLAD   OF   FRENCH   RIVERS 

OF  streams  that  men  take  honor  in 
The  Frenchman  looks  to  three, 
And  each  one  has  for  origin 

The  hills  of  Burgundy ; 
And  each  has  known  the  quivers 
Of  blood  and  tears  and  pain  — • 
0  gallant  bleeding  rivers, 

The  Marne,  the  Meuse,  the  Aisne. 

Says  Marne  :   "My  poplar  fiinges 

Have  felt  the  Prussian  tread, 
The  blootl  of  brave  men  tinges 

My  banks  with  lasting  red  ; 
Let  others  ask  due  credit, 

But  France  has  me  to  thank ; 
Von  Kluck  himself  has  said  it  : 

I  turne<l  the  Boche's  flank  !" 

Says  Meuse  :   "I  claim  no  wimiiiig, 

No  glory  on  the  stag(> ; 
Save  that,  in  the  beginning 

I  strove  t(^  save  Li('g(>. 
Alas  !  that  Frankisli  rivers 

Should  share  such  shame  as  mine  — 
In  spite  of  all  endeavM)rs 

I  flow  to  join  the  Rhine  !" 

rf)pyr(ii;iiT  i!V  CKoitiip;   ir.   uokan  compwy 
207 


20S  LEST   WE   FORGET 

Says  Aisne :   "IMy  silver  shallows 

Are  Salter  than  the  sea, 
The  woe  of  Rheims  still  hallows 

]\Iy  endless  tragedy. 
Of  rivers  rich  in  story 

That  run  through  green  Champagne, 
In  agony  and  glory, 

The  chief  am  I,  the  Aisne  I" 

Now  there  are  greater  waters 

That  Frenchmen  all  hold  dear  — 
The  Rhone,  with  many  daughters, 

That  runs  so  icy  clear ; 
There's  Moselle,  deep  and  winy, 

There's  Loire,  Garonne  and  Seine. 
But  O  the  valiant  tiny  — 

The  Marne,  the  Meuse,  the  Aisne  ! 

Christopher  Morley. 


A  river  is  the  most  human  and  companionable  of  all 
inanimate  things.  It  has  a  life,  a  character,  a  voice  of 
its  own ;  and  is  as  full  of  good-fellowship  as  a  sugar- 
maple  is  of  sap.  It  can  talk  in  various  tones,  loud  or 
low;  and  of  many  subjects,  grave  or  gay. 

Henry  van  Dyke. 


BACILLI  AND   BULLETS 

SIR  WILLIAM  OSLER,  one  of  the  greatest  med- 
ical men  in  the  world,  told  the  soldiers  in 
the  English  training  camps  that  he  wanted  to  help 
them  to  get  a  true  knowledge  of  their  foes.  The 
officers  had  impressed  the  soldiers  with  the  truth  that 
it  was  always  necessary  to  find  out  where  their  enemies 
were  and  how  many  they  were.  But  Sir  William 
Osier  told  them  of  other  invisible  enemies  which  they 
should  most  fear,  and  fight  against.  ''While  the 
bullets  from  your  foes  are  to  be  dreaded,"  he  said, 
''the  bacilli  are  far  more  dangerous."  Indeed  in  the 
wars  of  the  world,  the  two  have  been  as  Saul  and 
David,  —  the  one  slaying  thousands,  the  other  tens 
of  thousands. 

He  continued,  "I  can  never  see  a  group  of  recruits 
marching  to  the  depot  without  asking  what  percentage 
of  these  fine  fellows  will  die  from  wounds,  and  what 
percentage  will  perish  miserably  from  neglect  of  or- 
dinary sanitary  precautions.  It  is  bitter  enough  to 
lose  thousands  of  the  best  of  our  young  men  in  a 
hideous  war,  but  it  adds  terribly  to  the  tragedy  to 
think  that  more  than  one  half  of  the  losses  may  be 

209 


•210  LEST    \V1'.    I'OKCKT 

due  to  preventable  disease.  'rvi)lms  fever,  malaria, 
cholera,  enteric,  and  dysentery  have  won  more  vic- 
tories than  powder  and  shot.  Some  of  the  diseases 
need  no  longer  he  dreaded.  Typhus  and  malaria, 
which  one  hundred  years  ago  routed  a  great  p]nglish 
army  in  tlie  ex]:)edition  against  Antweij),  are  no  longer 
formidable  foes.  But  enough  such  foes  remain,  as  we 
found  by  sad  experience  in  South  Africa.  Of  the 
22,000  lives  lost  in  that  war  —  can  you  believe  it? 
—  the  bullets  accounted  for  oidy  8000,  the  bacilli 
for  14,000.  In  the  long,  hard  campaign  before  us, 
more  men  will  go  into  the  field  than  ever  before  in 
the  history  of  the  Empire.  Before  it  is  too  late,  let 
us  take  everj^  possible  precaution  to  guard  against 
a  repetition  of  such  disasters.  I  am  here  to  warn 
you  soldiers  against  enemies  more  subtle,  more  dan- 
gerous, and  more  fatal  than  the  Germans,  enemies 
against  which  no  successful  battle  can  be  fought 
without  your  intelligent  cooperation.  So  far  the 
world  has  onh"  seen  one  great  ^var  waged  with  the 
weapons  of  science  against  these  foes.  Our  allies,  the 
Japanese,  went  into  the  Russian  campaign  prepared 
as  fully  against  bacilli  as  against  bullets,  with  the 
result  that  the  percentage  of  deaths  from  disease  was 
the  lowest  that  has  ever  been  attained  in  a  great  war. 
\Miich  lesson  shall  we  learn?  Which  example  shall 
we  follow,  Japan,  or  South  Africa  with  its  sad  mem- 
ories ? 


BACILLI   AND   BULLETS  211 

''We  are  not  likely  to  have  to  fight  three  scourges, 
typhus,  malaria,  and  cholera,  though  the  possibility 
of  the  last  has  to  be  considered.  But  there  remain 
dysentery,  pneumonia,  and  enteric. 

"Dysentery  has  been  for  centuries  one  of  the  most 
terrible  of  camj)  diseases,  killing  thousands,  and,  in 
its  prolonged  damage  to  health,  it  is  one  of  the  most 
fatal  of  foes  to  armies.  So  far  as  we  know,  it  is  con- 
veyed by  water,  and  only  by  carrying  out  strictly, 
under  all  circumstances,  the  directions  about  boiling 
water,  can  it  be  prevented.  It  is  a  disease  which,  even 
under  the  best  of  circumstances,  cannot  always  be 
prevented ;  but  with  care  there  should  never  again 
be  widespread  outbreaks  in  camps  themselves. 

"Pneumonia  is  a  much  more  difficult  disease  to 
prevent.  Many  of  us,  unfortunately,  carry  the  germ 
with  us.  In  these  bright  days  all  goes  well  in  a  holi- 
day camp  like  this  ;  but  when  the  cold  and  the  rain 
come,  and  the  long  marches,  the  resisting  forces  of 
the  body  are  lowered,  the  enemy,  always  on  the  watch, 
overpowers  the  guards,  rushes  the  defenses,  and  at- 
tacks the  lungs.  Be  careful  not  to  neglect  coughs  and 
colds.  A  man  in  good  condition  should  be  able  to 
withstand  the  wettings  and  exposures  that  lower  the 
system,  but  in  a  winter  campaign,  pneumonia  causes 
a  large  amount  of  sickness  and  is  one  of  the  serious 
enemies  of  the  soldier. 

"Above   all   others   one   disease   has   proved   most 


212  LEST  WE  FORGET 

fatal  in  modern  warfare  —  enteric,  or  typhoid  fever. 
Over  and  over  again  it  has  killed  thousands  before 
they  ever  reached  the  fighting  line.  The  United 
States  troops  had  a  terrible  experience  in  the  Spanish- 
American  War.  In  six  months,  between  June  and 
November,  among  107,973  officers  and  men  in  92 
volunteer  regiments,  20,738,  practically  one  fifth  of 
the  entire  number,  had  typhoid  fever,  and  1580  died. 
The  danger  is  chiefl}^  from  persons  who  have  already 
had  the  disease  and  w4io  carry  the  germs  in  their 
intestines,  harmless  to  them,  but  capable  of  infecting 
barracks  or  camps.  It  was  probably  b}^  flies  and  by 
dust  carrying  the  germs  that  the  bacilli  were  so  fatal 
in  South  Africa.  Take  to  heart  these  figures :  there 
were  57,084  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  of  which  19,454 
were  invalided,  and  8022  died.  More  died  from  the 
bacilli  of  this  disease  than  from  the  bullets  of  the 
Boers.  Do  let  this  terrible  record  impress  upon  you 
the  importance  of  carrying  out  with  religious  care  the 
sanitary  regulations. 

^'One  great  advance  in  connection  with  typhoid 
fever  has  been  made  of  late  years,  and  of  this  I  am 
come  specially  to  ask  you  to  take  advantage.  An 
attack  of  an  infectious  disease  so  alters  the  body  that 
it  is  no  longer  susceptible  to  another  attack  of  the 
same  disease;  once  a  person  has  had  scarlet  fever, 
smallpox,  or  chicken  pox,  he  is  not  likely  to  have  a 
second  attack.     He  is  immune.     When  bacilli  make  a 


BACILLI   AND   BULLETS  213 

successful  entry  into  our  bodies,  they  overcome  the 
forces  that  naturally  protect  the  system,  and  grow ; 
but  the  body  puts  up  a  strong  fight,  all  sorts  of  anti- 
bodies are  formed  in  the  blood,  and  if  recovery  takes 
place,  the  patient  is  safe  for  a  few  years  at  least  against 
that  disease. 

''It  was  an  Englishman,  Jenner,  who,  in  1798,  found 
that  it  was  possible  to  produce  this  immunity  by 
giving  a  person  a  mild  attack  of  the  disease,  or  of 
one  very  much  like  it.  Against  smallpox  all  of  you 
have  been  vaccinated  —  a  harmless,  safe,  and  effective 
measure.  Let  me  give  you  a  war  illustration.  Gen- 
eral Wood  of  the  United  States  Army  told  me  that, 
when  he  was  at  Santiago,  reports  came  that  in  villages 
not  far  distant  smallpox  was  raging,  and  the  people 
were  without  help  of  any  kind.  He  called  for  volun- 
teers, all  men  who  showed  scars  of  satisfactory  vac- 
cination. Groups  of  these  soldiers  went  into  the 
villages,  took  care  of  the  smallpox  patients,  cleaned 
up  the  houses,  stayed  there  until  the  epidemic  was 
over,  and  not  one  of  them  took  the  disease.  Had  not 
those  men  been  vaccinated,  at  least  99  per  cent  of 
them  would  have  taken  smallpox. 

''Now. what  I  wish  to  ask  you  is  to  take  advantage 
of  the  knowledge  that  the  human  body  can  be  pro- 
tected by  vaccination  against  typhoid.  Discovered 
through  the  researches  of  Sir  Almroth  Wright,  this 
measure   has   been   introduced   successfully   into   our 


214  LEST   WK    FOKMlirr 

own  regular  army,  into  the  armies  of  France,  the 
United  States,  Japan,  and  ( Germany .  I  told  you  a 
few  minutes  ago  about  the  great  number  of  cases  of 
t>'i^hoid  fever  in  the  vohmteer  troops  in  America 
during  tlie  Spanish-American  War.  That  resulted 
largely  from  tin*  wide  i)revalence  of  the  disease  in 
coimtry  districts,  so  that  the  camps  became  infected ; 
and  we  did  not  then  know  the  im])ortance  of  the  fly 
as  a  carrier.  But  in  the  regular  arm}'  in  the  United 
States,  where  inoculation  has  been  practiced  now  for 
several  years,  the  number  of  cases  has  fallen  from 
3.53  per  thousand  men  to  practically  nil.  In  a  strength 
of  90,646  there  were,  in  1913,  only  three  cases  of  tj^phoid 
fever.  In  France  the  typhoid  rate  among  the  un vac- 
cinated was  168.44  per  thousand,  and  among  the  vac- 
cinated .18  per  thousand.  In  India,  where  the  disease 
has  been  very  prevalent,  the  success  of  the  measure 
has  been  remarkable. 

''In  the  United  States,  and  in  France,  and  in  some 
other  countries,  this  vaccination  against  the  disease  is 
compulsory.  It  is  not  a  serious  matter;  you  may 
feel  badly  for  tw^enty-four  hours,  and  the  place  of 
inoculation  will  be  tender,  l)ut  I  hope  I  have  said 
enough  to  convince  you  that,  in  the  interests  of  the 
cause,  you  should  gladly  put  up  with  this  temporary 
inconvenience.  If  the  lessons  of  past  experience  count, 
any  expeditionary  force  on  the  Continent  has  much 
more  to  fear  from  the  bacillus  of  t3i3hoid  fever  than 


BACILLI    AND   BULLETS  215 

from  bullets  and  bayonets.  Think  again  of  South 
Africa,  with  its  57,000  cases  of  typhoid  fever!  With 
a  million  of  men  in  the  field,  their  efficiency  will  be 
increased  one  third  if  we  can  prevent  typhoid.  It  can 
be  prevented,  it  must  be  prevented  ;  but  meanwhile 
the  decision  is  in  your  hands,  and  I  know  it  will  be  in 
favor  of  your  King;  and  Country." 


The  soldiers  in  the  American  army  are  also  inoculated 
against  measles,  scarlet  fever,  and  the  pneumonia  germ. 

Tetanus,  or  lockjaw,  is  one  of  the  grave  dangers  faced 
by  the  wounded  soldiers ;  for  the  germ  of  this  disease 
has  its  home  in  the  earth,  and  during  a  battle,  soldiers 
with  open  wounds  often  lie  for  hours  in  the  fields  and 
trenches.  Antitoxin  treatment  has  reduced  the  death- 
rate. 

Two  new  diseases  have  been  produced  by  the  World 
War,  —  spotted  typhus  and  trench  fever ;  both  are 
carried  by  vermin.  This  was  proved  by  soldiers  who 
volunteered  to  permit  experiments  to  be  made  upon 
them.  By  preventing  and  destroying  the  vermin, 
these  diseases  are  being  conqueied. 


THE   TORCH    OF  VALOR 

rMHE  torch  of  valor  has  been  passed  from  one 
JL  brave  hand  to  another  down  the  centuries,  to 
be  held  to-day  by  the  most  valiant  in  the  long  line 
of  heroes.  Deeds  have  been  done  in  Europe  since 
August,  1914,  which  rival  the  most  stirring  feats  sung 
b}'  Homer  or  Virgil,  by  the  minnesingers  of  Germany, 
by  the  troubadours  of  Provenge,  or  told  in  the  Norse 
sagas  or  Celtic  ballads.  No  exploit  of  Ajax  or  Achilles 
excels  that  of  the  Russian  Cossack,  wounded  in  eleven 
places  and  slaying  as  many  foes.  The  trio  that  held 
the  bridge  against  Lars  Porsena  and  his  cohorts  have 
been  equaled  by  the  three  men  of  Battery  L,  fighting 
with  their  single  gun  in  the  graj^  and  deathly  dawn 
until  the  enem3^'s  battery  was  silenced.  Private  AVil- 
son,  who,  single-handed,  killed  seven  of  the  enemy 
and  captured  a  gun,  sold  newspapers  in  private  life; 
but  he  need  not  fear  comparison  with  any  of  his  ancient 
and  radiant  line.  Who  that  cares  for  courage  can  for- 
get that  Frenchman,  forced  to  march  in  front  of  a 
German  battalion  stealing  to  surprise  his  countrymen 
at  the  bridge  of  Three  Grietchen,  near  Ypres?     To 

FROM     "THE    WORLD    IN    THE    CRUCIBLE."      COPYRIGHT,    1915,    BT    DODD,    MEAD    AND 

COMPANY 

216 


THE  TORCH   OF  VALOR  217 

speak  meant  death  for  himself,  to  be  silent  meant 
death  for  his  comrades;  and  still  the  sentry  gave  no 
alarm.  So  he  gave  it  himself.  'Tire!  For  the  love 
of  God,  fire!"  he  cried,  his  soul  alive  with  sacrifice; 
and  so  died.  The  ancient  hero  of  romance,  who 
gathered  to  his  own  heart  the  lance  heads  of  the  foe 
that  a  gap  might  be  made  in  their  phalanx,  did  no 
more  than  that.  Nelson  conveniently  forgot  his  blind 
eye  at  Copenhagen,  and  even  in  this  he  has  his  followers 
still.  Bombardier  Havelock  was  wounded  in  the  thigh 
by  fragments  of  shell.  He  had  his  wound  dressed  at 
the  ambulance  and  was  ordered  to  hospital.  Instead 
of  obeying,  he  returned  to  his  battery,  to  be  wounded 
again  in  the  back  within  five,  minutes.  Once  more  he 
was  patched  up  by  the  doctor  and  sent  to  hospital, 
this  time  in  charge  of  an  orderly.  He  escaped  from 
his  guardian,  went  back  to  fight,  and  was  wounded 
for  the  third  time.  Afraid  to  face  the  angry  surgeon, 
he  lay  all  day  beside  the  gun.  That  night  he  was 
reprimanded  by  his  officers  —  and  received  the  V.  C. ! 
Also  there  are  the  airmen,  day  after  day  facing  appall- 
ing dangers  in  their  frail,  bullet-torn  craft.  Was  there 
ever  a  stouter  heart  than  that  of  the  aviator,  wounded 
to  death  and  still  planing  downwards,  to  be  found 
seated  in  his  place  and  grasping  the  controls,  stone- 
dead  ?  Few  eyes  were  dry  that  read  the  almost  mystic 
story  of  that  son  of  France  who,  struck  blind  in  a  storm 
of  fire,  still  navigated  his  machine,  obedient  to  the 


21S  LEST   WE    FORGET 

instructions  of  his  military  companion,  himself  mor- 
tally wound(Ml  by  shra|)ncl  and  dying  even  as  earth 
was  reached. 

There  is  no  nvi\\  to  woiship  the  past  with  a  too-abject 
devotion,  whatever  in  the  way  of  glory  it  has  been  to 
us  and  done  for  us.  Chandos  and  DuGuesclin,  Leoni- 
dasand  De  Buss}^  have  worthy  compeers  to-day.  Be- 
side them  may  stand  Lance-Corporal  O'Leary,  the 
Irish  peasant's  son.  Of  his  own  deed  he  merel}^  says 
that  he  led  some  men  to  an  important  position,  and 
took  it  from  the  Huns,  ''killing  some  of  their  gunners 
and  taking  a  few  prisoners."  History  will  tell  the 
tale  otherwise  :  how  this  modest  soldier,  outstri])ping 
his  eager  comrades,  coolly  selected  a  machine  gun  for 
attack,  and  killed  the  five  men  tending  it  before  they 
could  slew  round ;  how  he  then  sped  onwards  alone 
to  another  barricade,  which  he  captured,  after  killing 
three  of  the  enemy,  and  making  prisoners  of  two  more. 
Even  officialism  burst  its  bonds  for  a  moment  as  it 
records  the  deed  : 

Lance-Corporal  O'Leary  thus  practically  captured  the  enemy's 
po.sition  ])>-  hiuiself,  and  prevented  the  rest  of  the  attacking  party 
from  being  fired  on. 

The  epic  of  Lieutenant  Leach  and  Sergeant  Hogan, 
who  volunteered  to  recapture  a  trench  taken  by  the 
Germans,  after  two  failures  of  their  comrades,  is 
reading  to  give  one  at  once  a  gulp  in  the   throat  and 


THE   TORCH   OF   VALOR  219 

a  song  in  the  heart.  With  consummate  daring  they 
undertook  the  venture ;  with  irresistible  skill  they 
succeeded,  killing  eight  of  the  enemy,  wounding  two, 
and  taking  sixteen  prisoners.  In  the  words  of  the 
veteran  of  Waterloo,  ''It  was  as  good  fighting  as 
Boney  himself  would  have  made  a  man  a  gineral  for." 
There  are  isolated  incidents  of  this  kind  in  every 
war ;  but  in  a  thousand  different  i:)laces  in  France 
and  Belgium  the  dainitless,  nonchalant  valor  of  Irish- 
men, Englishmen,  Scotsmen,  and  Welshmen  has 
shown  itself.  Did  ever  the  gay  Gordons  do  a  gayer 
or  more  gallant  thing  than  was  done  on  the  29th 
of  September,  1914,  on  the  western  front?  Thirt}^ 
gunners  of  a  British  field  battery  had  just  been 
killed  or  wounded.  Thirty  others  were  ordered  to 
take  their  place.  They  knew  that  they  were  going 
to  certain  death,  and  *  they  went  with  a  cheery 
''Good-by,  you  fellows!"  to  their  comrades  of  the 
reserve.  Two  minutes  later  every  man  liad  falleli, 
and  another  thirty  stepped  to  the  front  with  the 
same  farewell,  smoking  their  cigarettes  as  the}"  went 
out  to  die  —  like  that  ''very  gallant  gentleman," 
Gates,  who  went  forth  from  Scott's  tent  into  the 
blizzard  and  immortality.  Englishmen  can  lift  uj) 
their  heads  with  ])ride,  human  nature  can  take  heart 
and  salute  the  future  with  hope,  when  the  Charge 
of  the  Five  Hundred  at  Gheluvelt  is  recalled.  There, 
on  the  Ypres  road  to  Calais,  2400  British   soldiers, 


220  LEST   WE  FORGET 

Scots  Guards,  South  Wales  Borderers,  and  the  Welsh 
and  Queen's  Regiments  held  up  24,000  Germans  in 
a  position  terribly  exposed.  On  that  glorious  and 
bloody  day  the  Worcesters,  500  strong,  charged  the 
hordes  of  Germans,  twenty  times  their  number, 
through  the  streets  of  Gheluvelt  and  up  and  beyond 
to  the  ver}^  trenches  of  the  foe ;  and  in  the  end  the 
ravishers  of  Belgium,  under  the  stress  and  storm  of 
their  valor,  turned  and  fled.  On  that  day  300  out 
of  500  of  the  Worcesters  failed  to  answer  the  roll  call 
when  the  fight  was  over,  and  out  of  2400  only  800 
lived  of  all  the  remnants  of  regiments  engaged ;  but 
the  road  to  Calais  was  blocked  against  the  Huns ; 
and  it  remains  so  even  to  this  day.  \^nio  shall  say 
that  greatness  of  soul  is  not  the  possession  of  the 
modern  world?  Did  men  die  better  in  the  days 
before  the  Caesars? 

Not  any  one  branch  of  the  service,  not  any  one  class 
of  men  alone  has  done  these  deeds  of  valor;  but  in 
the  splendid  democracy  of  heroism,  the  colonel  and 
the  private,  the  corporal  and  the  lieutenant  —  one 
was  going  to  say,  have  thrown  away,  but  no !  — 
have  offered  up  their  lives  on  the  altars  of  sacrifice, 
heedless  of  all  save  that  duty  must  be  done. 

But  greater  than  such  deeds,  of  which  there  have 
been  inspiring  hundreds,  is  the  patient  endurance 
shown  by  men  whose  world  has  narrowed  down  to 
that  little  corner  of  a  great  war  which  they  are  fight- 


THE  TORCH  OF  VALOR  221 

ing  for  their  country.  To  fight  on  night  and  day  in 
the  trenches,  under  avalanches  of  murdering  metal 
and  storms  of  rending  shrapnel,  calls  for  higher  quali- 
ties than  those  short,  sharp  gusts  of  conflict  which 
in  former  days  were  called  battles.  Then  men  faced 
death  in  the  open,  weapon  in  hand,  cheered  by  color 
and  music  and  the  personal  contest,  man  upon  man 
outright,  greatly  daring  for  a  few  sharp  hours.  Now 
all  the  pageantry  is  gone ;  the  fight  rages  without 
ceasing ;  men  must  eat  and  sleep  in  the  line  of  fire ; 
death  and  mutilation  ravage  over  them  even  while 
they  rest.  Nerves  have  given  way,  men  have  gone 
mad  under  this  prolonged  strain,  and  the  marvel  is 
that  any  have  borne  it ;  yet  they  have  not  onl}^  borne 
it,  they  have  triumphed  over  it.  These  have  known 
the  exaltation  of  stripping  life  of  its  impedimenta  to 
do  a  thing  set  for  them  to  do ;  giving  up  all  for  an 
idea.  The  great  obsession  is  on  them ;  they  are 
swayed  and  possessed  by  something  greater  than 
themselves ;  they  live  in  an  atmosphere  which,  breath- 
ing, inflames  them  to  the  utmost  of  their  being. 

There  was  a  corner  in  the  British  lines  where  men 
had  fought  for  days,  until  the  place  was  a  shambles ; 
where  food  could  only  rarely  reach  them ;  where  they 
stood  up  to  their  knees  in  mud  and  water,  where  men 
endured,  but  where  Death  was  the  companion  of  their 
fortitude.  Yet  after  a  lull  in  the  firing  there  came 
from  some  point  in  the  battered  trench  the  new  British 


222  LEST    WE   FORGET 

Ixittlo-cry.  "Ai-(^  \v(^  downhearted?"  And  then,  as  we 
are  told,  one  blood-stained  specter  feebly  raised  him- 
self above  the  broken  parapet,  shouted  "No!"  and 
f{^ll  back  dead.  There  spoke  a  spirit  of  high  endur- 
anc(\  of  a  shining  defiance,  of  a  courage  which  wants 
no  pity,  which  exalts  as  it  wends  its  way  hence. 

Sir  Gilbkkt  Parker. 


Mother  I"]arth  !     Are  thy  heroes  dead  ? 

Do  they  thrill  the  soul  of  the  yeai-s  no  more? 

Ai-e  the  gleaming  snows  and  the  poppies  red 

All  that  is  left  of  the  brave  of  yore? 

Are  there  none  to  fight  as  Theseus  fought, 

Far  in  the  young  world's  misty  dawn? 

Or  to  teach  as  the  gray-haired  Nestor  taught  ? 

Mother  Earth  !     Are  the  heroes  gone? 

Gone?  —  in  a  grander  form  they  lise  ; 

Dead?  —  we  may  clasp  theii-  hands  in  ours, 

And  catch  the  light  of  their  clearer  eyes. 

And  wreathe  their  brows  with  immortal  flowei-s. 

Wherever  a  noble  deed  is  done. 

'Tis  the  jHilse  of  a  hero's  heart  is  stirred  ; 

Wherever  right  lias  a  triumph  won 

There  are  the  heroes'  voices  heard. 

Edna  Dean  Proctor. 


MARSHAL   FOCH 

A  GREAT  German  philosopher  said  many  years 
ago  that  history  was  the  story  of  the  struggle 
of  the  human  race  for  freedom.  Would  the  Huns 
conquer  Europe  and  put  back  human  liberty  for 
hundreds  of  years?  This  was  the  question  that  was 
answered  at  the  battle  of  the  Marne  in  September, 
1914,  and  the  answer  depended  upon  what  General 
Foch  was  able  to  do  with  his  army.  It  was  neces- 
sar}^  that  he  should  attack,  and  General  Joffre  ordered 
him  to  do  so. 

General  Foch  did  not  repl}^  that  he  was  having  all 
he  could  do  to  hold  his  own  and  to  prevent  his  army 
from  being  captured  or  destroyed,  although  this  was 
really  the  situation.  He  sent  back  to  his  command- 
ing general  a  rnessage  that  will  never  be  forgotten, 
one  that  was  in  keeping  with  the  maxim  lie  had  always 
taught  his  students  in  the  military  school,  that  the 
best  defense  is  an  offense:  "My  left  li;is  been  forced 
back ;  my  right  has  been  rputed ;  I  shall  attack  with 
my  center." 

Foch  is  a  man  of  medium  height.  His  face  is  an 
especially   striking  on(\     He   has   the   forehead   of  a 

223 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Undertcood,  iV.  Y 

Marshal  Fkrdinaxd  Foch 
224 


MARSHAL  FOCH  225 

thinker,  with  two  deep  folds  between  the  eyebrows; 
he  has  deep-set  eyes,  a  large  nose,  a  strong  mouth 
slightly  hidden  under  a  gray  mustache,  and  a  chin 
which  shows  decision  and  force.  His  whole  face  ex- 
presses great  power  of  thought  and  will. 

Before  the  war,  he  was  a  professor  of  military  his- 
tory. He  was  accustomed  to  outline  to  the  young 
officers  in  his  class  a  clear  statement  of  a  military 
situation,  and  the  orders  which  had  been  followed. 
He  would  then  call  upon  his  pupils  to  decide  what 
difficulties  would  arise  and  what  the  results  would  be. 
In  this  way,  they  learned  to  discover  for  themselves 
the  solutions  of  many  kinds  of  military  problems. 

Since  Foch  has  been  accustomed  to  this  clear  reason- 
ing on  all  war  problems,  no  military  situation  can 
surprise  him.  As  a  commander,  he  selects  the  goal 
to  be  reached,  and  the  most  skillful  way  of  reaching 
it,  and  his  men  have  confidence  that  he  is  right.  This 
is  what  gives  a  commander  the  power  to  do  things. 

Marshal  Joffre  realized  General  Foch's  ability  and 
quickly  advanced  him. 

After  the  First  Battle  of  the  Marne,  it  was  necessary 
to  appoint  a  commander  for  the  French  forces  north 
of  Paris,  and  it  was  very  important  to  select  one  who 
had  the  initiative  and  the  ability  to  check  the  German 
attempt  to  capture  the  Channel  ports.  The  new  com- 
mander must  also  be  a  man  of  great  tact,  for  he  would 
have  to  work  with  the  British  and  the  Belgians.     Gen- 


iJC.  LEST    w  !•;    1X)H(;KT 

eral  Foch  was  selected,  and  has  ])ro\(Ml  to  be  the  rip;ht 
man  in  tlie  i-joht  plaee. 

Tlie  race  for  the  Channt^l  ports  was  an  exciting  one. 
Although  tlie  (lermans  lost,  it  seemed  at  times  as  if 
the}'  would  win.  and  be  able  to  establish  submarine 
bases  within  a  very  short  distance  of  England.  In 
fact,  if  they  had  captured  Calais,  they  could  have  fired 
with  their  long-range  guns  across  the  Channel  and 
have  bombarded  English  coast  towns,  and  perhaps 
London  itself. 

Foch's  decision  and  strength  of  }:)urpose  are  well 
illustrated  b}'  an  incident  which  is  told  by  the  French 
officers  working  under  his  command.  He  had  sent 
some  cavalry  to  protect  the  British  army  from  being 
outflanked  and  disastrously  defeated.  At  the  close 
of  the  day,  the  cavalry  commander  reported  to  Gen- 
eral Foch  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  withdraw,  as 
the  Germans  had  been  reenforced.  ''Did  3'ou  throw 
all  the  forces  possible  into  the  fight?"  asked  General 
Foch.  "No,"  ansAvered  the  cavalry  commander. 
''You  will  at  once  take  up  your  old  position  and 
hold  the  enem}?-  there  until  you  have  lost  every  gun," 
directed  the  general.  "Then  you  will  report  to  head- 
quarters for  further  orders." 

Foch  is  a  leader  who  plans  well,  who  knows  how  to 
command,  and  how  to  make  others  obey.  His  orders 
always  end  with  the  words,  "Without  delay!"  Be- 
cause the  enemy  has  usually  had  larger  numbers  and 


MARSHAL  FOCH  227 

more  ammunition,  time  has  been  everything  to  the 
Allies.     Foch  saved  time  and  so  saved  the  Allies. 

After  his  great  victory  at  the  Second  Battle  of  the 
Marne,  Foch  was  made  a  Marshal  of  France. 

The  Allies,  in  1918,  through  the  influence  of 
President  Wilson,  it  is  said,  decided  to  appoint  a 
generalissimo,  that  is,  one  who  should  have  direction 
of  all  the  Allied  forces  on  the  west  front,  including 
those  in  Italy.  Foch  was  appointed  to  this  com- 
mand, and  from  this  time  the  German  plans  and 
campaigns  began  to  go  wrong.  To  this  one  man, 
who  entered  the  French  army  in  his  teens,  and  who 
commanded  at  sixty-six  the  largest  forces  ever  under 
one  general,  the  successes  of  the  Allies  were  due,  more 
than  to  any  other  single  individual,  unless  it  be 
President  Wilson. 

Between  July  15  and  October,  he  had  regained  all 
the  territory  taken  by  the  Germans  in  their  great  drives 
of  1918  and  had  driven  the  enemy  out  of  the  St.  Mihiel 
salient  which  they  had  held  since  19 14 .  These  victories 
were  won  not  by  hammer  blows  of  greatly  superior 
numbers  but  by  generalship  of  the  highest  order  and 
far  superior  to  that  of  the  German  leaders. 


THE   MEXICAN   PLOT 

IT  is  true  that  Germany  does  not  know  the  mean- 
ing of  honesty  and  fair  play.  Most  Americans, 
in  everj^thing,  want  ''a  square  deal."  They  demand 
it  for  themselves,  and  a  true  American  feels  that  the 
harshest  thing  that  can  be  said  of  him  is  that  he  is 
not  fair  and  square  in  his  dealings.  In  any  American 
school,  a  pupil  who  is  deceitful  is  at  once  shunned 
by  all  the  other  boys  and  girls  as  a  ''cheat"  and  a 
"sneak."  He  has  no  place  among  them,  least  of  all 
in  their  games  and  sports,  for  not  to  play  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  game  is  to  upset  and  spoil  the  sport 
entirely. 

In  playing  some  of  our  great  national  games,  like 
baseball  and  football,  where  the  players  are  divided 
Into  teams,  one  player,  by  cheating,  does  not  suffer 
for  it  himself  alone,  but  his  whole  team  has  to  pay 
the  penalty.  Indeed,  if  he  persisted  in  being  unfair, 
he  would  soon  lose  his  place  in  the  team  for  all  time. 

The  Germans  would  not  understand  this,  and  they 
would  not  understand  that  the  last  half  of  the  ninth 
inning  in  a  ball  game  is  seldom  played  because  the 
winners  do  not  wish  to  ''rub  in"  the  defeat  of  their 

228 


THE  MEXICAN  PLOT  229 

opponents.  Some  think  that  it  is  because  German 
children  have  had  few  sports  and  games  that  the 
German  nation  has  so  little  sense  of  honesty  and  fair 
play. 

In  German  schools,  the  pupils  at  one  time  were 
allowed  to  engage  in  certain  sports,  but  later  these 
were  officially  forbidden. 

The  rulers  of  Germany  have  for  years  forbidden 
anything  taught  in  their  schools  which  did  not  praise 
Germany  and  make  the  children  believe  their  Emperor 
to  be  a  god.  The  pupils  are  taught  in  history,  geog- 
raphy, and  even  in  reading,  only  those  facts  about 
other  countries  which  show  how  much  inferior  they  are 
to  Germany. 

So  the  pupils  have  never  learned  the  true  and  the 
interesting  things  about  other  countries  in  the  great 
wide  world.  German  history  tells  only  about  Ger- 
many's great  war  victories.  The  pupils  never  learn 
of  Germany's  defeats  in  war.  The  teacher  makes  the 
history  class  the  liveliest  of  the  day,  often  seeming 
to  be  more  of  a  Fourth  of  July  orator  than  a  school 
teacher.  The  children  are  taught  that  Germany  is 
the  one  civilized  country  in  the  world ;  that  there 
was  never  anything  good  that  did  not  come  from 
Germany;  that  even  the  victory  of  the  North,  in 
the  Civil  War  in  America,  was  due  to  there  being 
such  a  large  majority  of  German-born  men  on  the 
Northern  side. 


230  LEST    WE    FORGET 

Their  geography  tells  only  about  Germany's  political 
divisions,  its  civilization,  and  its  commerce.  Their 
readers  contain  stories  of  German  military  ''heroes." 
The  two  i^reat  scliool  holidays  are  the  Emperor's 
Birthday  and  Sedan  Day.  the  anniversary  of  the  great 
defeat  of  the  French  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War. 

The  walls  of  the  schoolrooms  are  covered  with  pic- 
tures of  the  Emperor,  the  Empi-ess,  and  of  battle  scenes, 
especially  those  showing  German  soldiers  bringing  in 
French  prisoners.  The  singing  of  ''Deutschland  liber 
Alles"  occurs  several  times  a  day. 

A  German  boy  is  trained  into  a  soldier,  hard-hearted 
and  deceitful.  The  puj^ils  in  school  are  made  to  spy 
on  one  another,  and  the  teachers,  too,  spy  on  one 
another.  An  American  bo3'  was  expelled  from  a  Ger- 
man g\Tnnasium  in  Berlin,  because  he  refused  to 
''tattle-tale"  on  the  pupils  in  his  class. 

The  Germans  have  not  been  taught  to  respect  the 
rights  of  others,  —  no  one  apparently  has  any  ]:)ersonal 
rights  except  the  Kaiser  and  certain  high  officials ; 
and  so  great  has  been  their  power  that  they  have  been 
able  to  cheat  the  whole  German  nation,  and  they 
have  attempted  to  cheat  the  other  nations  of  the 
world. 

Some  years  before  the  Spanish -.Ajnerican  War,  Ger- 
many began  to  show  an  unfair  spirit  toward  the  United 
States.  Much  ill-feeling  existed  between  the  two 
countries    in   their   commercial   relationships.     There 


THE   .MEXICAN   PLOT  231 

grew  up  among  the  aristocracy  of  Germany,  especially 
among  the  landowners,  an  extremely  hostile  attitude 
toward  the  government  in  Washington.  This  hos- 
tility was  first  publicly  shown  by  a  remark  reported 
to  have  been  made  by  the  Emperor  [it  mess  with  a 
company  of  officers,  to  the  effect  that  "it  would  not 
be  too  bad  if  America  should  very  soon  require  Europe 
to  teach  her  the  proi)er  place  for  her."  This  remark 
was  afterward  officially  denied,  with  the  addition  that 
the  Emperor's  feeling  for  the  United  States  was  not 
hostile. 

When,  however.  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  brother 
of  the  German  Emperor,  arrived  on  a  government 
mission  in  Hongkong,  it  is  said  he  gave  a  banquet 
to  representatives  from  all  the  fleets  in  port.  Com- 
modore Dewey  of  the  American  fleet  was  present. 
After  the  dinner.  Prince  Henr}^  called  for  the  usual 
national  toasts.  There  is  a  custom  in  the  navy  of 
calling  upon  the  representatives  of  the  different  nations 
in  a  certain  regulated  and  well-understood  oixler.  But 
when  the  time  came  to  call  for  the  toast  to  the  United 
States,  the  Prince  passed  it  by  ;  he  did  this  several 
times.  Commodore  Dewey,  realizing  that  this  was 
intentional  on  the  part  of  Prince  Henry,  left  the 
banquet.  The  next  morning  a  messengei*  fi'om  the 
German  prince  brought  the  explanation  that  the  act 
had  been  committed  wholly  by  mistake,  and  was  not 
meant  as  a  discourtesv  to  the  United  States  oi-  her 


232  LEST   WE   FORGET 

commander.  Dewej^  thanked  the  messenger  for  his 
courteous  manner  in  delivering  his  Admiral's  word, 
but  sent  back  the  statement  that  such  an  incident 
called  for  a  personal  apology  from  the  Prince.  Very 
soon  Prince  Henry  called  in  person  and  apologized, 
saying  that  the  name  of  the  United  States  had  not 
been  written  in  its  proper  order  on  the  list  which 
he  followed  in  giving  the  toasts. 

When  war  had  been  declared  between  the  United 
States  and  Spain,  and  Commodore  Dewey  had  re- 
ceived orders  to  ''seek  the  Spanish  fleet  and  destroy 
it,"  he  set  sail  from  Hongkong  for  Manila.  Ger- 
many, according  to  announcements  from  Spain,  was 
determined  to  prevent  the  bombardment  of  the  city, 
because  of  German  interests  and  German  subjects 
there.  After  capturing  the  Spanish  fortress  which 
guarded  Manila,  it  was  necessarj^  for  Dewey  to  main- 
tain a  strict  blockade  against  the  city,  lest  Spanish 
reinforcements  should  arrive.  No  American  troops  or 
ships  could  reach  him  in  less  than  six  weeks. 

In  Manila  Bay  were  warships  of  Great  Britain, 
Russia,  France,  Japan,  and  Austria.  These  nations 
were  content  to  send  only  one  or  two  vessels,  while 
from  Germany  there  were  five  and  sometimes  seven. 
One  of  them,  the  Deutschland,  was  commanded  by 
Prince  Henry,  and  was  heavily  armed.  In  fact,  in 
numbers  and  guns,  the  Germans  were  stronger  than 
the  Americans  with  their  six  small  vessels. 


THE  MEXICAN   PLOT  233 

There  was  one  regulation  common  to  all  blockade 
codes,  one  which  was  always  followed  by  the  officers 
on  every  ship.  It  was  that  no  foreign  boats  should 
move  about  the  bay  after  sunset,  without  the  per- 
mission of  the  blockade  commander. 

But  the  Germans  sent  launches  out  at  night  and 
in  many  ways  violated  the  rules.  When  Dewey  pro- 
tested, they  only  sent  them  off  later  at  night.  They 
even  gave  the  Spaniards  many  supplies.  Then  Dewey 
had  to  turn  the  searchlights  on  them  and  keep  their 
vessels  covered,  to  prevent  any  boat  leaving  at  night 
without  his  knowledge. 

This  is  particularly  offensive  to  any  naval  com- 
mander, and  the  German  Admiral,  Von  Diederichs, 
objected.  The  American  commander  was  courteous 
but  firm,  and  said  that  the  United  States,  and  not 
Germany,  was  holding  the  blockade. 

Still  the  Germans  persisted  in  moving  their  vessels 
so  mysteriously  that  an  American  ship  was  sent  to 
meet  every  incoming  vessel  to  demand  its  nationality, 
its  last  port,  and  its  destination.  To  the  German 
flag  lieutenant,  who  brought  a  strong  protest  against 
this  order,  Dewey  said  :  ''Tell  Admiral  von  Diederichs 
that  there  are  some  acts  that  mean  war,  and  his  fleet  is 
dangerously  near  those  acts.  If  he  wants  war,  he  may 
have  it  here,  now,  or  at  the  time  that  best  suits  him." 

Von  Diederichs  answered  that  his  actions  were  not 
intended  to  violate  the  rules,  but  he  then  went  to  the 


234  LEST   W'K   FORGET 

Hritisli  oommand(M-,  Captain  Chichester,  and  asked 
whether  he  intended  to  follow  such  strict  orders. 
The  English  captain  suspected  the  German  and  an- 
swered, ''Admiral  Dewey  and  I  have  a  perfect  under- 
standing in  the  matter."  Then  he  added,  "He  has 
asked  us  to  do  just  what  he  has  asked  of  yon,  and  we 
have  been  directed  to  follow  his  orders  to  the  letter." 

The  Engli.sh  commander  then  sent  a  dispatch  to 
Admiral  Dewey,  saying  that  his  orders  were  just,  his 
regulations  fair,  and  that  if  the  American  commander 
felt  unable  to  enforce  them  alone,  he  could  depend 
upon  the  British  fleet  to  assist  him.  It  is  understood 
that  the  British  officer  afterward  informed  Von  Die- 
derichs  of  what  he  had  done,  and  the  Germans  stricth^ 
obeyed  the  rules  and  gave  no  further  trouble. 

Not  many  years  ago,  in  1911  in  fact,  while  the 
United  States  was  doing  her  best  by  Germany,  the 
German  government  tried  to  injuie  and  deceive  her. 

At  that  time  Germany  was  also  plotting  against 
France,  to  make  war  upon  her  and  to  seize  the  whole 
country.  Perhaps  German}'  knew  that  America  would 
not  allow  such  horrible  crimes  to  succeed,  and  so 
sooner  oi-  later  she  would  find  herself  at  war  with  the 
United  States. 

Therefore  Germany  must  think  ahead,  and  plan 
some  means  of  making  the  United  States  keep  her 
ideas  of  justice  to  herself  and  let  Germany  do  as  she 
chose.     German  officials  consulted  together  and  said. 


THE   MEXICAN    PLOT  235 

"Mexico  is  a  little  country  at  the  very  southern  tip 
of  the  United  States,  conveniently  near  the  new  water- 
way at  Panama.  We  could  do  some  damage  there, 
with  Mexico's  help,  and  as  a  reward,  Mexico  might  get 
back  some  of  the  states  just  over  the  border  —  New 
Mexico,  Texas,  and  Arizona  —  w^hich  formerly  belonged 
to  her. 

"  Then  Japan  is  across  the  sea  from  Mexico  and  the 
gold  coast  of  the  United  States.  Japan  needs  more 
land  for  her  millions  of  people.  She  might  as  well 
take  California  and  some  of  the  islands  near  Panama. 
All  this  would  keep  America  busy  so  that  she  could 
not  hinder  us  from  doing  our  will  in  France." 

A  press  correspondent  in  Berlin,  as  early  as  Febru- 
ary, 1911,  sent  the  following  word  by  cablegram  : 

The  story  was  tokl  here  last  night  that  Japan  and  Mexico 
have  come  to  an  understanding  with  each  other  against  America, 
and  that  the  United  States,  therefore,  is  secretly  favoring  the 
Mexican  revohitionists  led  by  Madero.  To-day  the  report  is 
pubHshed  in  several  newspapei's,  even  in  the  most  trustworthy  of 
them.  The  report  says:  "Since  America  obtained  the  Panama 
Canal,  she  has  had  an  increasing  interest  in  robbing  Mexico  and 
tlie  Central  American  states  of  their  independence."- 

According  to  the  story,  the  present  trouble  has  arisen  because 
of  Mexico's  refusal  to  allow  the  United  States  to  use  Magdalena 
Bay  as  a  coaling  station.  There  must  be  some  reason  for  pub- 
lishing the  story  so  widely.  It  is  made  much  of  by  the  jingo 
press,  which  warns  the  Central  and  the  South  American  states  to 
beware  of  ambitious  political  plans  of  the  United  States. 


2o0  LEST   WE   FORGET 

As  this  word  was  sent  in  time  of  peace,  it  was  not 
censored,  and  while  it  did  not  at  that  time  appear  to 
be  of  great  importance,  it  reall}^  meant  that  Germany 
was  taking  advantage  of  the  civil  war  in  Mexico  to 
stir  up  antagonism  between  that  countr}^  and  the 
United  States. 

In  American  and  German  newspapers,  stories  were 
also  printed  hinting  at  bad  feelings  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Japanese  government,  though  no  one 
seemed  to  know  from  whom  the  stories  came.  It  was 
said  that,  before  long,  an  American  fleet  would  be 
forcing  its  way  into  Japanese  waters,  or  the  Japanese 
fleet  would  form  in  battle  line  somewhere  along  the 
coast  of  California. 

In  that  same  year,  stories  were  publicly  printed  in 
American  papers,  intended  to  spread  the  belief  that 
Japan  and  Mexico  were  especially  friendly  to  Germany, 
and  that  they  were  interested  in  plotting  together 
against  the  United  States.  These  stories  were  so 
mysterious  and  mischievous  that  explanations  from 
the  different  governments  became  necessary. 

During  the  last  week  of  February,  1917,  there  came 
into  the  hands  of  the  State  Department  in  America, 
a  note  from  Alfred  Zimmermann,  German  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  to  the  German  Minister  in  Mexico 
City.  The  American  government  had  already  urged 
the  German  government  to  cease  submarine  warfare,  as 
it  was  not  at  all  a  fair  method  of  fighting,  but  was, 


THE   MEXICAN  PLOT  237 

instead,  entirely  barbarous  and  contrary  to  inter- 
national law.  Germany,  however,  determined  to  wage 
unrestricted  submarine  warfare  against  England  and 
her  allies.  Twelve  days  before  the  plan  was  finally 
announced,  this  note  was  sent  to  the  German  Minister 

in  Mexico : 

Berlin,  Jan.  19,  1917. 

On  the  1st  of  February  we  intend  to  begin  submarine  warfare 
unrestricted.  In  spite  of  this,  it  is  our  intention  to  endeavor  to 
keep  neutral  with  the  United  States  of  America. 

If  this  attempt  is  not  successful,  we  propose  an  alliance  on  the 
following  basis  with  Mexico  : 

That  we  shall  make  war  together  and  together  make  peace. 
We  shall  give  general  financial  support,  and  it  is  understood  that 
Mexico  is  to  reconquer  the  lost  territory  in  New  Mexico,  Texas, 
and  Arizona.     The  details  are  left  to  you  for  settlement. 

You  are  instructed  to  inform  the  President  of  Mexico  of  the 
above  in  the  greatest  confidence,  as  soon  as  it  is  certain  that  there 
will  be  an  outbreak  of  war  with  the  United  States,  and  suggest 
that  the  President  of  Mexico,  on  his  own  initiative,  should 
communicate  with  Japan  suggesting  adherence  at  once  to  this 
plan ;  at  the  same  time  offer  to  mediate  between  Germany  and 
Japan. 

Please  call  to  the  attention  of  the  President  of  Mexico  that 
the  employment  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare  now  promises  to 
compel  England  to  make  peace  in  a  few  months. 

ZiMMERMANN. 

When  all  this  became  known  to  the  American  people, 
at  first  it  was  almost  impossible  for  them  to  believe 
that  Germany  had  been  plotting  against  the  United 


23S  LEST   WE    FOUCICT 

States,  and  for  so  long.  Only  the  word  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  sa3dng  that  clear  and  suffi- 
cient evidence  to  prove  it  beyond  dispute  was  in  the 
liands  of  the  government,  could  persuade  them  that 
Germany  had  been  for  years  acting  the  "cheat"  and 
the  "sneak." 

The  first  step  taken  by  the  American  government 
was  to  ask  JVIexico  and  Japan  to  explain  the  many 
stories  that  had  been  circulated,  and  to  tell  whether 
the}'  had  agreed  with  Germany  to  war  against  the 
United  States. 

The  people  in  this  country  waited  anxiously  to 
hear  from  Japan,  for  it  would  be  denying  the  truth 
to  say  that  the  stories  had  not  aroused  suspicion. 
Japan  answered  just  as  the  United  States  would  have 
answered  in  her  j^lace,  an  answer  that  left  no  room 
for  doubt .  Not  only  did  the  Japanese  Foreign  Minister 
deny  that  Japan  had  been  asked  b}'  Mexico  or  Ger- 
msLuy  to  join  against  the  United  States,  but  he  added 
more  than  is  absolutely  necessary  in  diplomatic  circles  ; 
he  added  that  even  if  such  a  proposal  had  come,  it 
would  have  been  rejected  at  once. 

This  is  exactly  such  an  answer  as  the  United  States 
would  have  given  to  any  friendly  country.  The 
answer  did  more  to  bind  the  friendship  between  the 
two  countries  than  many  years  of  official  visits  and 
formal  expressions  of  goodwill  could  possibly  ha\'e 
done.     The  Japanese  people  were  glad  that  such  an 


THE   MEXICAN   PLOT  239 

answer  had  been  sent  by  their  government.  In  fact, 
the  Japanese  Ambassador  in  this  country,  in  speaking 
of  the  matter  said,  "We  cannot  condemn  the  plot  too 
strongly.  Our  Foreign  Minister  and  Premier  have 
expressed  the  feeling  of  the  Japanese  Government 
and  the  Japanese  people.  And  it  is  not  alone  the 
government ;  but  the  people  are  back  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  denouncing  the  intrigue.  In  one  way  it 
is  unfortunate,  because  we  do  not  feel  flattered  at 
the  thought  of  being  approached  for  such  an  object ; 
but  the  incident,  on  the  other  hand,  is  certain  to  have 
the  good  effect  of  putting  us  in  a  true  light  before  the 
world,  and  of  binding  our  friendship  with  America. 
We  have  a  treaty  alliance  with  Great  Britain,  and 
owe  allegiance  to  the  Allied  cause.  In  Japan  we  place 
above  everything  else  our  national  honor,  which  in- 
volves faithfulness  to  our  treaties." 

Germany  never  supposed  that  she  A\ould  be  the 
means  by  which  Japan  and  the  United  States,  instead 
of  being  thrust  further  apart,  would  ])e  drawn  closer 
together.  Germany  dreamed  a  different  sort  of 
dream.  Judging  other  nations  by  herself,  she  did  not 
expect  England  to  come  to  the  aid  of  Belgium  and 
France,  and  now  she  had  made  n  not  her  mistake. 
8he  had  set  both  Japan  and  Mexico  down  as  the 
natural  foes  of  the  United  States,  waiting  only  for  a 
favorable  opportunit}'  to  strike. 

The  an.swer  from  Mexico  was  not  so  satisfactory  as 


240  LEST  WE  FORGET 

that  from  Jai:)an.  YiWix,  the  famous  Mexican  bandit 
chief,  when  he  conferred  on  the  border  with  Major- 
Genera  1  Scott  as  to  the  firing  at  Naco,  it  is  said,  had 
whispered  to  the  American  General  a  story  of  Japanese 
conspiracy  in  Mexico  City.  He  claimed  that  the 
captain  of  a  Japanese  vessel  in  a  Mexican  port  had 
spoken  of  the  natural  ties  of  friendship  that  should 
exist  between  Mexico  and  Japan,  and  had  also  spoken 
of  the  United  States  as  the  natural  enemy  to  both 
countries.  Villa  had  boasted  loudly  that,  if  war  came 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States,  Mexico  would 
be  found  fighting  for  her  American  neighbor.  But 
later,  when  the  United  States  recognized  Carranza  as 
ruler  of  Mexico  and  turned  against  Villa,  the  bandit 
chief  hastened  to  seek  aid  against  his  '^neighbor," 
from  Tokio.     Needless  to  say,  he  failed. 

General  Huerta's  effort  to  start  a  new  revolution 
in  Mexico,  after  he  returned  to  the  United  States 
from  Spain,  has  been  traced  directly  to  the  Germans. 
He,  too,  looked  hopefully  for  aid  from  Japan,  but  was 
disappointed. 

Before  the  United  States  had  recognized  the  Car- 
ranza government,  the  Carranza  officials  displayed 
great  affection  for  the  Japanese  Minister  who  had 
been  sent  to  their  country,  and  for  Japan.  But  the 
government  at  Tokio  knew  that  the  display  was 
merely  made  for  American  eyes,  and  carefully  avoided 
any  warm  response.     Thus  has  Zimmermann's  scheme 


THE  MEXICAN   PLOT  241 

come  to  be  called  his  ^'back-stairs  policy"  and  ''the 
plot  that  failed." 

Thanks  to  the  discovery  of  the  Zimmermann  plot, 
Japan  and  the  United  States  understand  each  other 
better,  and  are  growing  more  and  more  friendly. 
Mexico  is  keeping  her  troubles  to  herself  and  has  all 
she  can  do  in  stiaightening  out  her  own  affairs.  The 
boys  and  girls  in  America  will  hope,  if  baseball  and 
football  will  teach  the  Mexicans  to  play  fair,  that 
these  games  and  others  like  them  will  become  as  pop- 
ular there  as  they  are  in  the  United  States. 


A  man  is  a  father,  a  brother,  a  German,  a  Roman, 
an  American ;  but  beneath  all  these  relations,  he  is  a 
man.  The  end  of  his  human  destiny  is  not  to  be  the 
best  German,  or  the  best  Roman,  or  the  best  father, 
but  the  best  man  he  can  be.  .  .  . 

Though  darkness  sometimes  shadows  our  national 
sky,  though  confusion  comes  from  error,  and  success 
breeds  corruption,  yet  will  the  storm  pass  in  God's  good 
time ;  and  in  clearer  sky  and  purer  atmosphere,  our 
national  hfe  grow  stronger  and  nobler,  sanctified  more 
and  more,  consecrated  to  God  and  liberty  by  the  mar- 
tyrs who  fah  in  the  strife  for  the  just  and  true. 

George  William  Curtis. 


WHY   WE   FIGHT   GERMANY 

BECAUSE  of  Belgium,  invaded,  outraged,  en- 
slaved, impoverished  Belgium.  We  cannot  for- 
get Liege,  Lou  vain,  and  Cardinal  Mercier.  Trans- 
lated into  terms  of  American  history,  these  names 
stand  for  Bunker  Hill,  Lexington,  and  Patrick  Henry. 

Because  of  France,  invaded,  desecrated  France,  a 
million  of  whose  heroic  sons  have  died  to  save  the 
land  of  Lafayette.  Glorious,  goMen  France,  the  pre- 
server of  the  arts,  the  land  of  noble  spirit,  the  first 
land  to  follow  our  lead  into  republican  liberty. 

Because  of  England,  from  whom  came  the  laws, 
traditions,  standards  of  life,  and  inherent  love  of 
libert}^  which  we  call  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  We 
defeated  her  once  upon  the  land  and  once  upon  the 
sea.  But  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Africa,  and  Canada 
are  free  because  of  what  we  did.  And  they  are  with 
us  in  the  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 

Because  of  Russia  —  new  Russia.  She  must  not 
l)e  overwhelmed  now.  Not  now,  surely,  when  she 
is  just  born  into  freedom.  Her  peasants  must  have 
their  chance;  the}^  must  go  to  school  to  Washington, 
to  Jefferson,  and  to  Lincoln,   until  the}'   know  their 

242 


WHY    WE   FIGHT   GERMANY  243 

way  about  in  this  new,  strange  world  of  government 
by  the  popular  will. 

Because  of  other  peoples,  with  their  rising  hope 
that  the  world  may  be  freed  from  government  by  the 
soldier. 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  she  sought  to 
terrorize  us  and  then  to  fool  us.  We  could  not  be- 
lieve that  Germany  would  do  what  she  said  she  would 
do  upon  the  seas. 

We  still  hear  the  piteous  cries  of  children  coming 
up  out  of  the  sea  where  the  Lusitania  went  down. 
And  Germany  has  never  asked  the  forgiveness  of  the 
world. 

We  saw  the  Sussex  sunk,  crowded  with  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  neutral  nations. 

We  saw  ship  after  ship  sent  to  the  bottom  —  ships 
of  mercy  bound  (Kit  of  America  for  the  Belgian  starv- 
ing, ships  carrying  the  Red  Cross  and  laden  with  the 
wounded  of  all  nations,  ships  carrying  food  and  cloth- 
ing to  friendly,  harmless,  terrorized  peoples,  ships 
flyhig  the  Stars  and  Stripes  —  sent  to  the  bottom 
hundreds  of  miles  from  shore,  manned  by  American 
seamen,  murdered  against  all  law,  without  warning. 

We  believed  Germany's  ])romise  that  she  would 
respect  the  neutral  flag  and  the  rights  of  neutrals, 
and  we  held  our  anger  and  outrage  in  check.  But 
now  we  see  that  she  was  holding  us  off  with  fair  promises 
until  she  could  build  her  huge  fleet  of  submarines.     For 


244  LEST   WE   FORGET 

when  spring  came,  she  blew  her  promise  into  the  air, 
just  as  at  the  beginning  she  had  torn  up  that  "scrap  of 
paper."  Then  we  saw  clearly  that  there  was  but  one 
law  for  German}^  her  will  to  rule. 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  in  this  war  feudal- 
ism is  making  its  last  stand  against  on-coming  de- 
mocracy. We  see  it  now.  This  is  a  war  against  an 
old  spirit,  an  ancient,  outworn  spirit.  It  is  a  war 
against  feudalism  —  the  right  of  the  castle  on  the  hill 
to  rule  the  village  below.  It  is  a  war  for  democracy 
—  the  right  of  all  to  be  their  own  masters.  Let  Ger- 
many be  feudal  if  she  will.  But  she  must  not  spread 
her  system  over  a  world  that  has  outgrown  it. 

We  fight  with  the  world  for  an  honest  w^orld  in 
which  nations  keep  their  word,  for  a  world  in  Avhich 
nations  do  not  live  by  swagger  or  by  threat,  for  a 
world  in  which  men  think  of  the  ways  in  which  they 
can  conquer  the  common  cruelties  of  nature  instead 
of  inventing  more  horrible  cruelties  to  inflict  upon  the 
spirit  and  body  of  man,  for  a  w^orld  in  which  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  philosophy  of  a  few  shall  not  make  miserable 
all  mankind,  for  a  w^orld  in  which  the  man  is  held  more 
precious  than  the  machine,  the  system,  or  the  State. 
Secretary  Franklin  K.  Lane,  June  4,  1917. 


GENERAL  PERSHING 

IN  April,  1917,  a  small  group  of  men  in  civilian 
dress  climbed  up  the  side  of  the  ocean  liner,  the 
Baltic,  just  outside  of  New  York  harbor.  Each  one 
carried  a  suitcase  or  a  hand-bag,  which  was  his  only 
baggage.  They  had  come  down  the  harbor  through 
the  fog  and  mist  on  a  tugboat.  These  men  were 
officers  in  the  United  States  army,  and  among  them 
were  General  Pershing  and  his  staff — ''Black  Jack 
Pershing,"  as  his  men  affectionately  called  him. 

They  were  given  no  farewell  at  the  dock,  in  fact 
their  going  was  kept  a  profound  secret ;  for  should 
the  Germans  learn  upon  what  liner  the  chief  officers 
of  the  American  army  that  was  soon  to  gather  in 
France,  took  passage,  all  their  submarines  would 
neglect  everything  else  in  attempting  to  sink  this 
one  vessel. 

The  officers  reached  England  in  safety,  and  made 
preparations  for  the  great  American  armies  that  were 
soon  to  follow  them.  General  Pershing  was  appointed 
commander  of  these  armies.  He  had  just  come  from 
service  in  Mexico,  where  he  had  led  American  troops 
in  search  of  the  outlaw,  Villa. 

245 


I'hulugrapli  friiiii  U ndeTicond  d-  Vndirwood,  .V.  Y. 

General  John  J.  Pershins 


246 


GENERAL   PERSHING  247 

General  Pershing  is  a  West  Point  graduate ;  but  he 
narrowly  escaped  following  another  career,  for  he 
gained  his  appointment  to  West  Point  by  only  one 
point  over  his  nearest  competitor.  He  has  made 
fighting  his  life  work.  We  are  all  beginning  to  see 
that  in  the  world  as  it  is  made  u})  at  present,  some 
men  must  prepare  for  fighting  and  make  fighting  their 
life  w^ork.  Universal  peace  must  come  through  war, 
and  many  are  hoping  that  it  will  come  as  a  result  of 
the  World  War.  W^illiam  Jennings  Bryan  and  Henry 
Ford  are  among  the  world's  leading  advocates  of 
universal  peace.  When  the  United  States  declared 
war,  Bryan  said,  ^'The  quickest  road  to  peace 
is  through  the  war  to  victory";  and  Henry  Ford 
turned  over  to  the  government  his  great  automobile 
factories  and  gave  his  own  services  on  one  of  the  war 
boards,  to  make  the  war  more  quickly  successful. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  us  in  the  Dallas  News 
of  Pershing's  school  days  at  normal  school,  before 
he  went  to  West  Point.  It  shows  that  lie  never 
shunned  a  fight,  if  the  rights  of  others  needed  to  be 
defended. 

An  inciflont  of  the  boyhood  days  of  General  John  J.  Pershing, 
iUustrating  how  the  principle  foi-  which  the  American  general  is 
leading  this  nation's  armies  against  the  hoi'des  of  autocracy  — 
the  square  deal  for  every  one  —  has  always  predominated  in  the 
American  leader,  was  i-elated  yesterday  })y  Dr.  James  L.  Hollo- 
way  of  Dallas,  who  went  to  school  with  IVrshing  in  Kirksville, 


248  LEST  AVE   FORGET 

^lissouri,  manj^  years  ago,  and  who  during  that  period  was  an  in- 
timate friend  of  the  General. 

"When  I  arrived  at  Kirksville  to  attend  the  Normal  School 
there,  I  was  a  green  country  boy,"  Dr.  Holloway  said,  "and  carried 
my  belongings  in  a  very  frail  trunk.  The  baggageman  who  was 
on  the  station  platform  was  handling  my  trunk  roughly,  and  when 
I  remonstrated  with  him  in  ni}'^  timid  way,  he  merely  pitched  the 
trunk  off  the  baggage  wagon  and  laughed  at  me.  When  the  trunk 
fell  on  the  ground  it  broke  open  and  scattered  my  things  around 
on  the  platform.  1  indignantly  told  him  that  I  would  report  the 
matter  to  the  headquarters  of  the  railroad  in  St.  Louis,  and  again 
he  laughed  at  me. 

"I  wrote  the  head  of  the  baggage  department,  as  I  said  I  would, 
and  later  learned  that  the  offending  baggageman  had  been  severely 
censured.  Meanwhile  I  had  struck  up  a  strong  acquaintance 
with  Jack  Pershing,  who  was  a  big,  husky  boy  from  a  Missouri 
country  town.  I  will  always  remember  his  broad  forehead,  his 
determined-looking  jaw,  and  his  steel  gray  eyes.  He  was  a 
favorite  among  the  boys  at  the  Normal  School,  not  so  much  on 
account  of  his  mental  brilliancy  but  because  of  his  personal  stam- 
ina. 

"Two  weeks  after  my  encounter  with  the  baggageman,  Per- 
shing and  I  walked  down  to  the  railroad  station.  It  was  on  Sunday 
and  the  baggage  office  was  closed.  Pershing  left  me  for  a  moment, 
and  as  I  walked  around  a  corner  of  the  station  I  met  the  baggage- 
man, who  approached  threateningly.  'You're  the  fellow  who  re- 
ported me  to  headquarters,'  he  said,  bulljdng  me.  I  admitted 
that  I  had.  'Well,'  said  the  baggageman,  'I'm  going  to  lick  you 
good  for  it.'  With  these  words  he  started  toward  me.  At  this 
juncture  Pershing's  big  frame  rounded  the  corner  of  the  station. 

'"What's  the  trouble,  Holloway?'  he  asked.  I  told  him  the 
baggageman  was  threatening  me  with  violence.     'He  is,  is  he?' 


GENERAL  PERSHING  249 

said  Pershing.  'Well,  we'll  clean  his  plowshare  for  him  right 
now.' 

"I  shall  never  forget  this  expression.  The  baggageman,  seeing 
that  he  was  no  match  for  Pershing  —  let  alone  the  two  of  us  — 
left  the  scene  of  action.  We  didn't  even  have  a  chance  to  lay  our 
hands  on  hun. 

"Six  months  after  this  occurred,  Pershing  was  appointed  to 
West  Point.     I  have  never  seen  him  since." 

For  several  years  after  his  graduation  from  West 
Point,  no  promotion  came  to  Pershing ;  but  he  was 
not  idle  nor  soured  by  disappointment.  He  con- 
tinued to  study,  especially  military  tactics.  He  be- 
came so  well  versed  in  this  branch  that  he  was  sent 
to  West  Point  to  teach  it. 

When  the  Spanish-American  War  broke  out,  Per- 
shing asked  for  a  command,  and  was  appointed  first 
lieutenant  with  a  troop  of  colored  cavalry,  and  sent 
to  Cuba.  At  the  battle  of  El  Caney  he  led  his  troops 
with  such  bravery  and  success  that  he  was  at  once 
promoted  and  made  a  captain  '^for  gallantry  in 
action." 

Then  he  went  to  the  Philippines  with  General 
Chaffee.  He  performed  much  valuable  service  there. 
Perhaps  the  single  deed  by  which  his  work  there  is 
best  known  is  the  lesson  he  taught  the  Sultan  of  Min- 
danao. The  Sultan  was  a  Mohammedan,  and  ruled 
over  many  thousand  Malays.  To  kill  a  Christian 
was  thought  to  be  a  good  deed  by  the  Sultan,  and  he 


2o0  LEST   WE    FORGET 

was  always  p;lad  of  an  opportunity  to  show  his  p;ood- 
ness.  P'or  three  hundred  years,  he  and  his  predecessors 
had  escaped  punishment  by  the  Spaniards,  who  owned 
and  ruled  the  islands. 

The  Sultan's  chief  village  and  stronghold  could  be 
reached  onl}'  b}^  passing  through  the  dense  and  dan- 
gerous tropical  jungles;  and  when  it  was  reached,  it 
was  found  to  be  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  earth  and 
bamboo,  forty  feet  thick,  and  outside  the  wall  by  a 
moat  fifty  feet  wide.  It  does  not  seem  so  strange  that 
the  Spaniards  had  done  nothing. 

But  Pershing  cut  a  path  through  the  jungles  and 
reached  the  Sultan's  village,  and  informed  him  that 
there  must  be  no  more  murders  of  Christians.  The 
Sultan  was  very  pleasant,  in  fact  he  laughed  at  the 
young  American  captain. 

Soon  word  came  to  American  headquarters  that  the 
Sultan  had  caused  the  death  of  another  Christian 
missionary.  In  forty-eight  hours  most  of  the  earth 
and  bamboo  wall  was  in  the  moat,  and  the  Sultan's 
village  was  destroyed.  In  less  than  two  years,  Per- 
shing established  law  and  order  in  all  of  western 
Mindanao. 

He  was  also  in  command  of  the  troops  sent  to  the 
Border  and  into  Mexico  after  the  outlaw,  Villa.  The 
soldiers  with  him  there  always  recall  his  constant  ad- 
vice, ''Shoulders  back,  chin  up,  and  do  your  best." 

General  Pershing  is  a  man  who  has  never   feared 


GENERAL   PERSHING  251 

obstacles,  and  has  never  hesitated  to  give  the  time 
and  labor  necessary  to  overcome  them.  That  there 
is  no  easy  path  to  greatness  and  success,  but  that 
both  will  come  to  him  who  prepares  himself,  who 
works,  who  sticks  at  it,  who  is  brave  and  sacrificing  — 
this  is  the  lesson  of  General  Pershing's  life  and  work. 

Shortty  after  General  Pershing  reached  France,  the 
French  people  celebrated  the  birthday  of  Lafayette ; 
and  General  Pershing  visited  the  tomb  of  the  great 
French  patriot,  to  place  there  a  wreath  in  token  of 
America's  gratitude.  A  large  number  of  French  people 
were  gathered  there,  and  every  one  supposed  General 
Pershing  would  make  a  speech  —  that  is,  ever}^  one 
except  General  Pershing.  When  he  was  called  upon, 
he  was  dumfounded,  but  at  last  he  said,' ^' Well,  La- 
fayette, we  are  here."     That  was  all. 

Could  he  have  said  more  if  he  had  talked  an  hour? 
He  said,  ''Lafayette,  your  })eo])le  now  need  us.  We 
have  not  forgotten.  Here  we  are,  and  behind  us  are 
all  the  resources  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  enter- 
prising nation  in  the  world,  billions  of  dollars  and 
millions  of  men.  We  are  only  the  first  to  arrive  to 
]my  the  debt  we  have  owed  to  you  for  one  hundred 
and  forty  years,  but  here  we  are  at  last." 

It  is  said  that  men  and  women  wept  aloud  as  the 
full  significance  of  the  words  and  all  they  meant  for 
France  became  clear  to  them. 


THE   MELTING   POT 

A  AMERICA  has  been  called  the  ''crucible"  or  the 
Jl\.  ''melting  pot"  of  nations,  because  many  peoples 
of  many  races  and  many  countries  come  together  here, 
and  in  the  heat  of  life  and  struggle  are  molded  into 
Americans.  President  Wilson  said,  in  a  speech  at 
Cincinnati  in  1916,  "America  is  not  made  out  of  a 
single  stock.     Here  we  have  a  great  melting  pot." 

As  soon  as  we  entered  the  war  against  Germany, 
the  question  arose  in  the  minds  of  most  people  as  to 
how  the  large  number  of  Germans  in  the  United  States 
would  act.  Germany  had  taught  them  that  even 
though  they  became  naturalized  and  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance  as  American  citizens,  such  action  was 
not  binding,  but  was  like  "a  scrap  of  paper"  to  be 
destroyed  and  forgotten  whenever  necessity  demanded, 
and  that  "once  a  German"  meant  "always  a  Ger- 
man." It  seems  now  that  Germany  actually  expected 
the  Germans,  who  had  left  their  native  land  to  seek 
opportunity,  freedom,  and  citizenship  under  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  to  fight  against  their  new  and  adopted 
home ;  but  events  have  proved  that  most  German- 
Americans  have  higher  ideals  of  right.  A  leading 
German-American  has  written  a  book  entitled  "Right 

252 


THE  MELTING  POT  253 

before  Peace";  its  title  carries  the  thought  that  has 
guided  most  of  his  fellow-ccuntrymen  and  their  chil- 
dren in  the  United  States  during  the  World  War. 

A  few  months  after  the  United  States  had  declared 
that  a  state  of  war  existed  with  Germany,  many  lead- 
ing men  of  this  country  of  foreign  birth  and  parentage, 
signed,  with  others,  a  declaration  drawn  up  by  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt.  This  declaration,  somewhat  abbrevi- 
ated but  not  altered  in  thought,  is  as  follows.  It 
makes  veiy  clear  what  America  should  mean  to  her 
adop  ted  children . 

We  Americans  are  the  children  of  the  crucil^le.  We  have 
boasted  that  out  of  the  crucible,  the  melting  pot  of  life,  in  this 
free  land,  all  the  men  and  all  the  women  who  have  come  here 
from  all  the  nations  come  forth  as  Americans,  and  as  nothing 
else,  like  all  other  Americans,  equal  to  them,  and  holding  no 
allegiance  to  any  other  land  or  nation.  We  hold  it  then  to  be 
our  duty,  as  it  is  of  every  American,  always  to  stand  together 
for  the  honor  and  interest  of  America,  even  if  such  a  stand  brings 
us  into  conflict  with  our  fatherland.  If  an  American  does  not 
so  act,  he  is  false  to  the  teachings  and  the  lives  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln;  he  has  no  right  in  our  country,  and  he  should  be 
sent  out  of  it;  for  he  has  shown  that  the  crucible  has  failed  to 
do  its  work.  The  crucible  must  melt  all  who  are  cast  into  it, 
and  it  must  turn  them  out  in  one  American  mold,  the  mold  shaped 
one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  by  the  men  who,  under  Wash- 
ington, founded  this  as  a  free  nation,  separate  from  all  others. 
Even  at  that  time,  these  true  Americans  were  of  different  races ; 
Paul  Revere  and  Charles  Carroll,  Marion,  Herkimer,  Sullivan, 
Schuyler,  and  Muhlenberg  were  equals  in  service  and  respect 


2n4  LKST    Wi:    I'OKCKT 

with  I.ighlhorsc  Hairy  Lee  and  IsiacI  Putnam.  Most  of  thcni, 
howover.  were  of  English  blood,  iiut  lli(\\'  did  not  hesitate  to 
fight  Great  Britain  when  she  was  in  the  wronji.  They  stood  foi' 
liberty  and  for  the  eternal  rule  of  right  and  justice,  and  they 
stood  as  Americans  and  as  nothinp;  else. 

So  must  all  Americans  of  whatever  race  act  to-day;  oth(>i- 
wise  they  are  ti-aitors  to  America.  This  apj^lies,  especially  to-day, 
to  all  Americans  of  German  blood  who,  in  any  manner,  support 
Germany  against  the  United  States  and  her  Allies. 

Many  pacifists  have  during  the  last  three  years  jiroved  them- 
selves the  evil  enemies  of  their  country.  They  now  seek  an 
inconclusive  peace.  In  so  doing  they  show  themselves  to  be 
the  s])iritual  heirs  of  the  Tories,  who,  in  the  name  of  peace,  op- 
posed Washington,  and  of  the  Copperheads,  who,  in  the  name 
of  peace,  opi)osed  Lincoln.  We  look  upon  them  as  traitors  to 
the  Republic  and  to  the  great  cause  of  justice  and  humanity. 
This  war  is  a  war  for  the  vital  interests  of  Ameiica.  When  we 
fight  for  America  abroad,  we  save  oui'  children  from  fighting  for 
America  at  home  l)eside  their  own  luined  hearthstones.  To 
accept  any  peace,  excerpt  one  based  on  the  complete  overthrow 
of  Germany  as  she  is  under  the  ideals  of  Prussia  and  the  Hohen- 
zollerns,  we  believe  would  be  an  act  of  baseness  and  cowardice, 
and  a  betrayal  of  this  country  and  of  mankind. 

The  test  of  an  American  to-day  is  service  against  Germany. 
We  should  put  forth  as  speedily  as  possible  every  particle  of 
our  vast,  \a/,y  strength  to  win  the  trimnph  over  Germany.  The 
government  should  at  once  deal  with  the  gi'eatest  severity  with 
traitors  at  home. 

We  must  have  but  one  flag.  W(!  must  also  have  but  one 
language.  This  must  be  the  language  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  of  Washington's  Farewell  Addicss,  and  of  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  Speech. 


THE   MELTING   POT  255 

Of  us  who  sign,  some  are  Protestants,  some  are  Catholics,  some 
are  Jews.  Most  of  us  were  born  in  this  country  of  parents  born 
in  various  countries  of  the  Old  World  —  in  German}',  France, 
England,  Ireland,  Italy,  the  Slavonic  and  the  Scandinavian 
lands ;  some  of  us  were  born  abroad ;  some  of  us  are  of  Revolu- 
tionary stock.  All  of  us  are  Americans,  and  nothing  but  Amer- 
icans. 


THE   AMERICAN'S   CREED 

I  BELIEVE  in  the  United  States  of  America  as  a 
government  of  the  people,  b}^  the  people,  for  the 
people,  whose  just  powers  are  derived  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed ;  a  democracy  in  a  republic ;  a  sov- 
ereign Nation  of  many  sovereign  States ;  a  perfect 
Union,  one  and  inseparable,  established  ui)on  those 
principles  of  freedom,  equalit}^  justice,  and  humanity 
for  which  American  patriots  sacrificed  tlieir  lives  and 
fortunes. 

I  therefore  believe  it  is  my  duty  to  my  country  to 
love  it ;  to  support  its  Constitution  ;  to  ol)ey  its  laws  ; 
to  respect  its  flag ;  and  to  defend  it  against  all  enemies. 

C'OPYRILiHT,    litis.    BY    E.    J.    WYATT,    BALTIMORE. 


BIRDMEN 

ALTHOUGH  I  am  an  American,  I  am  still  in  the 
French  aviation  corps,  in  which  I  enlisted  when 
the  war  broke  out.  I  am  too  old  for  service  under  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  but  not  too  old  to  risk  my  life  under 
the  French  flag  for  the  freedom  of  the  world. 

I  was  trained  in  a  French  aviation  school.  Flyers 
were  needed  immediately ;  and  so  I  did  not  go  through 
''a  ground  school,"  or  any  teaching  like  that  given  for 
eight  weeks  in  the  American  ground  schools.  I  was 
sent  directly  to  the  flying  field  and  given  a  machine 
at  once.  I  did  not,  as  they  do  at  American  flying 
fields,  go  up  first  with  an  instructor  who  might  be 
tempted  to  ''scare  me  to  death"  by  ''looping  the 
loop"  or  doing  "tail  spins."  I  took  my  own  machine 
at  the  very  start  and,  after  being  given  the  simplest 
directions,  away  I  went  in  it;  but  I  did  not  break 
any  records  for  altitude. 

It  was  a  small  monoplane  with  a  20-horse-power 
motor,  and  its  wings  had  been  clipped ;  so  all  it  could 
do  was  to  roll  along  the  ground.  It  was,  however, 
some  time  before  I  could  guide  it  in  a  straight  line. 
I  was  discouraged  at  first,  but   felt   better  when  I 

256 


BIRDMEN  257 

learned  that  it  was  very  difficult  even  for  an  experienced 
flyer. 

Such  machines  are  called  "  penguins  "  and  have  a  trick 
of  turning  suddenly  in  a  short  half  circle  and  smash- 
ing the  end  of  a  wing  against  the  ground.  The  queer 
antics  of  beginners  in  them  furnish  fun  for  every  one 
on  the  flying  fields. 

After  I  had  mastered  this  machine,  I  was  given 
one  with  a  motor  of  greater  horse  power,  and  in  this 
I  could  fly  along  the  ground  at  nearly  sixty  miles  an 
hour ;  but  I  could  not  rise  into  the  air,  for  the  wings 
were  clipped  and  did  not  have  sufficient  sustaining 
power  to  hold  the  machine  in  the  air. 

Then  at  last  I  was  given  a  plane  with  full-sized 
wings;  but,  as  its  motor  generated  only  about  25- 
horse  power,  I  could  get  only  from  three  to  six  feet 
above  the  ground,  and  went  skimming  along  now  on 
the  ground  and  now  a  few  feet  in  the  air. 

In  these  machines,  we  learned  only  how  to  manage 
the  tail  of  the  machine.  As  we  skimmed  along  the 
ground,  we  tipped  the  tail  at  an  angle  slightly  above 
a  straight  line.  In  a  few  moments  we  were  off  the 
ground,  and  the  roar  of  the  motor  sounded  softer 
and  smoother.  It  seemed  as  if  we  were  very  far 
from  the  earth,  and  that  something  might  break  and 
dash  us  to  our  death  —  in  reality,  we  had  not  risen 
six  feet.  To  get  back  to  earth,  we  must  push  the 
lever  that  lowers  the  tail  —  but  this  must  be  done  very 


2r)8  LEST   \VK   ]<\)HGET 

slightly  and  very  carefully.  A  little  push  too  Tnuch, 
and  tlie  machine  will  suddenly  dive  into  the  ground. 

Aft(M-  my  experience  with  the  first  two  machines, 
I  found  it  easy  to  handle  this  one,  and  was  soon  given 
one  that  \\'oul(l  tak(^  me  up  about  fifty  feet  and  give 
nw  a  chance  to  learn  the  "feel  of  the  air."  All  my 
flying  was  still  in  straight  lines,  or  as  nearly  straight 
as  I  could  make  it.  We  were  not  yet  allowed  to  tr}^ 
to  turn. 

In  the  next  machine  I  could  rise  two  or  three  hun- 
dred feet  and  began  to  learn  to  turn,  although  most 
of  the  flying  was  still  in  straight  lines. 

I  ^vas  beginning  to  make  good  landings,  w^hich  is 
the  hardest  part  of  the  game.  We  have  to  let  the 
ship  down  on  two  wheels  and  let  the  tail  skid  at  a 
speed  of  thirtj^-five  miles  an  hour  and  not  break  the 
landing  gear. 

The  machines  often  bound  three  or  four  times  when 
landing  and  that  is  hard  on  the  landing  gear.  My  last 
landing  was  so  soft  that  I  was  not  sure  when  I  touched 
the  ground.  To  take  off  is  quite  easy.  The  ship  is  con- 
trolled by  an  upright  stick  which  is  between  one's 
knees  and  just  right  for  the  left  hand.  The  rudder 
is  controlled  by  the  feet,  and  the  throttle  is  on  the 
right  side.  To  take  ofT,  we  get  up  a  speed  of  about 
forty-six  miles  per  hour  and  raise  the  tail  up  imtil 
the  ship  is  level,  and  then  when  she  starts  to  rise, 
lift  the  nose  just  a  little  and  climb  slowly. 


BIRDMEN  259 

On  turns,  the  ship  has  to  be  banked,  tipped  up 
with  the  inside  wing  low,  and  turned  with  the  rudder. 
It  is  quite  a  hard  thing  to  do  when  it  is  rough,  as  just 
about  the  time  we  bank,  we  get  a  puff  of  wind  which 
will  hit  one  wing  and  she  will  roll  and  rock  so  that  we 
have  to  get  her  straightened  out.  It  is  a  fight  all  the 
time  until  you  get  about  3000  feet  up,  when  the  air 
gets  steady. 

To  land,  we  slow  the  engine  down  to  idling  speed 
and  come  down  in  a  steep  glide  until  five  or  six  feet 
from  the  ground,  then  level  off  and  glide  along  until 
she  begins  to  settle,  then  jerk  the  tail  down  until 
she  stops.  We  always  have  to  take  off  and  come 
down  against  the  wind. 

I  was  obliged  to  follow  the  directions  of  my  instruc- 
tor, much  against  my  own  wishes.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  I  could  now  do  anything  in  the  air  and  that 
there  was  not  the  slightest  danger.  This  too  early 
feeling  of  mastery  is  the  cause  of  many  beginners'  being 
injured  or  killed,  by  trying  "stunts"  too  difficult  for 
them. 

I  did  not  spend  much  time  in  flying  at  first,  after 
I  had  learned  how  to  handle  the  airplane.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  stay  in  the  air  and  to  fly,  but  it  is  difficult 
to  land  safely  without  breaking  the  machine.  So  1 
was  kept  practicing  landing. 

To  secure  my  license  I  was  required  to  fly  50  miles 
in  a  straight  line  to  a  named  ])lace,  and  then   back ; 


260  LEST   WE  FORGET 

then  to  fly  200  miles  in  a  triangle,  passing  through 
two  named  places ;  and  last  of  all  to  stay  one  hour 
in  the  air  at  an  altitude  higher  than  7000  feet. 

Xow  the  French  schools  require  only  a  30-mile 
flight  with  three  successful  landings,  before  sending 
the  flyer  to  the  finishing  school,  where  he  learns  to 
do  all  the  ''stunts"  that  a  fighter  must  be  able  to 
do  in  order  to  succeed.  I  learned  the  tail  wing  slip, 
the  tail  spin  and  dive,  the  vrille,  to  loop  the  loop,  and 
many  other  fancj^  flying  tricks.  They  have  saved  my 
life  more  than  once. 

I  was  interested  in  reading  the  other  day  James 
Norman  Hall's  funny  description  of  how  he  learned 
at  last  to  master  the  penguin.  He  felt  triumphant, 
but  he  says,  ''But  no  one  had  seen  my  splendid  sortie. 
Now  that  I  had  arrived,  no  one  paid  the  least  atten- 
tion to  me.  All  eyes  were  turned  upward,  and  follow- 
ing them  with  my  o^mi,  I  saw  an  airplane  outlined 
against  a  heaped-up  pile  of  snow-white  cloud.  It  was 
moving  at  tremendous  speed,  when  suddenly  it  darted 
straight  upward,  wavered  for  a  second  or  two,  turned 
slowly  on  one  wing,  and  fell,  nose-down,  turning  round 
and  round  as  it  fell,  like  a  scrap  of  paper.  It  was  the 
vrille,  the  prettiest  piece  of  aerial  acrobatics  that  one 
could  wish  to  see.  It  was  a  wonderful,  an  incredible 
sight. 

"Some  one  was  counting  the  turns  of  the  vrille. 
Six,  seven,  eight;   then  the  airman  came  out  of  it  on 


BIRDMEN  261 

an  even  keel,  and,  nosing  down  to  gather  speed,  looped 
twice  in  quick  succession.  Afterward  he  did  the  re- 
tournement,  turning  completely  over  in  the  air  and 
going  back  in  the  opposite  direction;  then  spiraled 
down  and  passed  over  our  heads  at  about  fifty  meters, 
landing  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  field  so  beautifully 
that  it  was  impossible  to  know  when  the  machine 
touched  the  ground." 

There  is  nothing  in  all  the  experiences  of  life  like 
what  one  feels  in  flying  through  the  air,  especially  at 
a  great  height  and  with  no  other  machines  in  sight. 
There  is  a  loneliness,  unlike  any  other  kind  of  lone- 
liness; there  is  a  feeling  of  smallness  and  weakness; 
a  sense  of  the  immensity  of  things  and  of  the  presence 
and  nearness  of  God.  It  is  surprising  that  in  doing 
that  in  which  man  has  shown  his  greatest  power  over 
the  forces  of  Nature,  he  feels  most  his  littleness  and 
how  easily  he  could  be  destroyed  by  the  very  forces 
he  has  conquered. 

Lieutenant  Roberts,  an  American  flying  in  France, 
described  not  long  ago  an  experience  that  came  just 
after  his  first  flight.  He  was  up  in  the  air,  higher 
than  anybody  had  ever  been  before,  when  the  machine 
suddenly  broke  into  little  pieces,  which,  as  he  was 
tumbling  down  through  the  air,  he  vainly  tried  to 
catch.  Just  as  he  hit  the  ground  and  broke  every 
bone  in  his  body,  he  woke  up  on  the  floor  beside  his 
bunk. 


2(VJ  LEST   WE    F(^RGET 

The  Ensli^!!!"!*''!  :ii"('  the  most  daring  of  all  the  flyers, 
take  tlie  most  risks,  and  do  the  most  dangerous 
"stunts."  Not  so  much  is  heard  of  them  because 
their  exploits  and  their  scoics  are  not  announced  by 
tlie  British  army.  Bishop,  who  has  just  been  ordered 
from  tiie  flying  held  to  safer  work,  is  said  to  have 
brouglit  down  nearly  eighty  German  planes,  and  on 
the  day  he  learned  of  his  recall,  went  up  and  brought 
down  two. 

The  Americans  are  daredevils,  too.  I  took  one  of 
them  one  night  as  a  ''guest,"  when  I  went  over  Metz 
on  a  bombing  expedition.  One  of  the  bombs  stuck. 
He  thought  it  might  cause  us  trouble  when  we  landed, 
possibly  explode  and  kill  us,  so  he  crawled  out  over 
the  fusilage  and  released  it.  He  certainly  earned  his 
passage. 

With  several  other  Americans  w^e  formed  what  we 
called  the  American  Escadrille ;  but  as  the  United 
States  was  neutral  at  that  time,  we  were  obliged  to 
change  the  name  to  the  Lafayette  Escadrille. 

Since  joining  the  squadron,  I  have  used  all  sorts  of 
machines,  and  there  are  many  of  them,  from  the 
heavy  bombing  machine  to  the  swift  little  swallow-like 
scouts. 

My  first  important  work  was  reconnoissance,  in 
which  I  carried  an  observer.  I  managed  the  machine, 
and  he  did  the  reconnoitering.  We  went  out  twice  a 
day  and  flew  over  into  German  territory,  sometimes 


BIRDMEN  263 

as  far  in  as  fifty  miles,  observing  all  that  was  going 
on,  the  movements  of  troops  and  supplies,  and  the 
building  of  railroads  and  defensive  works.  We  also 
took  photographs  of  the  country  over  which  we  flew. 

Reconnoissance  is  dangerous  work,  and  is  con- 
stantly growing  more  so,  as  anti-aircraft  guns  are 
improved.  These  guns  are  mounted  on  a  revolving 
table,  upon  which  is  a  mirror  in  which  the  airplane 
shows  as  soon  as  it  comes  within  range  of  the  gun. 
With  an  instrument  designed  for  the  purpose,  the 
crew  get  the  flyer's  altitude ;  and  with  another,  the 
rate  at  which  he  is  traveling.  They  aim  the  gun  for 
the  proper  altitude,  make  the  correct  allowance  for 
the  time  it  will  take  the  shell  to  reach  him,  and  as 
they  have  an  effective  range  of  over  30,000  feet,  there 
is  reason  to  worry.  Yet  by  zig-zagging  and  other 
devices,  the  aviators  are  rarely  brought  down  by  anti- 
aircraft guns.  The  small  scout  machines  with  a  wing 
spread  of  not  more  than  thirty  feet  are  not  visible 
to  the  naked  eye  when  at  an  altitude  of  over  10,000 
feet,  and  are  therefore  safe  from  these  guns  at  this 
height. 

But  reconnoissance,  to  be  effective,  must  be  done  at 
a  much  lower  altitude,  and  sometimes  the  machine 
must  remain  under  fire  for  a  considerable  period  of 
time.  Poiret,  the  French  aviator,  fighting  with  the 
Russians,  with  a  ca])tain  of  tlie  General  Staff  for  an 
observer,  was  under  rifle  and  shell  fii-e  for  about  twenty 


2W  LEST    WE   FOKGET 

iniiiLitcj^.  His  inac'liiiio  was  up  about  4000  feet.  Ten 
bullets  and  two  pieces  of  shell  hit  his  airplane,  but  he 
never  lost  control.  The  captain  was  shot  through 
the  heel,  the  bullet  coming  out  of  his  calf;  but  he 
continued  taking  notes.  They  returned  in  safety  to 
their  lines. 

I  also  did  some  work  in  directing  artillery  fire.  For 
this  my  machine  w^as  equipped  with  a  wireless  ap- 
paratus for  sending.  No  method  has  yet  been  devised 
whereby  an  airplane  in  flight  can  receive  wireless 
messages.  In  directing  the  fire  of  the  big  guns,  the 
aviator  seeks  to  get  directly  over  the  object  that  is 
under  fire,  and  to  signal  or  send  wdreless  messages 
in  regard  to  where  the  shells  land.  After  the  aviator 
is  in  position,  the  third  shot  usually  reaches  the  target. 

I  am  not  yet  one  of  the  great  aces,  and  will  not, 
therefore,  tell  you  about  any  of  my  air  battles.  I 
hope  some  da}^  you  may  read  of  them  and  that  I  may 
come  to  have  the  honor  of  being  named  with  Luf- 
bery,  Guynemer,  Nungesser,  Fonk.  Bishop,  Ball,  Genet, 
Chapman,  McConnell,  Prince,  Putnam,  and  other  heroes 
of  the  air. 

Lieutenant  R.  A.  J.  Warneford,  w^ho  w^on  the  Vic- 
toria Cross  for  destroying  a  giant  Zeppelin,  is  one  of 
the  greatest  of  these ;  at  least,  he  performed  a  feat 
never  accomplished  before  and  never  since. 

At  three  o'clock  one  morning  in  June,  1915,  he  dis- 
covered  a   Zeppelin   returning   from   bombing   towns 


BIRDMEN  265 

along  the  east  coast  of  England.  The  Huns  shot 
Captain  Fryatt  because,  as  they  said,  he  was  a  non- 
combatant  and  tried  to  defend  himself.  The  rule 
that  non-combatants  should  not  attack  military  forces 
was  made  with  the  understanding  that  military  forces 
would  not  war  on  non-combatants.  But  law,  or  justice, 
or  agreements  never  are  allowed  by  the  Huns  to  stand 
in  their  way.  This  Zeppelin  was  returning  from  a 
raid  in  which  twenty-four  were  killed  and  sixty  seriously 
injured,  nearly  all  women  and  children,  and  all  non- 
combatants. 

Lieutenant  Warneford  well  knew  of  the  dastardly 
deeds  of  the  Zeppelins,  and  he  immediately  gave 
chase,  firing  as  he  approached.  The  Zeppelin  re- 
turned his  shots.  He  mounted  as  rapidly  as  possible 
so  as  to  get  the  great  gas-bag  below  him,  until  he 
reached  over  6000  feet  and  the  Zeppelin  was  about 
150  feet  directly  below  him.  Both  were  moving  very 
rapidly,  and  to  hit  was  exceedingly  difficult,  but  he 
dropped  six  bombs,  one  after  the  other.  One  of  them 
hit  the  Zeppelin  squarely,  exploded  the  gas-bag,  and 
set  it  afire  its  entire  length.  The  explosion  turned 
Lieutenant  Warneford 's  airplane  upside  down,  and 
although  he  soon  righted  it,  he  was  obliged  to  land. 
He  was  over  territory  occupied  by  the  Germans  and 
he  landed  behind  the  German  lines,  but  he  succeeded 
in  rising  again  before  being  captured,  and  returned 
to  his  hangar  in  safety,  to  tell  his  marvelous  story. 


•2m  LF]8T    \\K    VomW.T 

The  Zeppelin  and  its  crow  were  completely  destroyed. 
A  few  days  later  Lieutenant  Warneford  was  killed. 

One  of  the  greatest  air  duels,  between  airj^lanes, 
was  during  the  Battle  of  Vimy  Ridge.  At  that  time 
Immelman  was  as  great  a  German  ace  as  were  Boelke 
and  Richthofen  later,  and  Ball  was  the  greatest  of  the 
English. 

One  morning  Ball  learned  that  Immelman  was 
stationed  with  the  Germans  on  the  opposite  line, 
and  carried  him  a  challenge  which  read : 

Captain  Immelman  : 

I  challenge  you  to  a  man-to-man  fight  to  take  place  this 
afternoon  at  two  o'clock.  I  will  meet  you  over  the  German 
lines.  Have  your  anti-aircraft  guns  withhold  thoii'  fii'o  while  we 
decide  which  is  the  better  man.     The  British  guns  will  be  silent. 

Ball. 

Ball  dropped  this  from  his  airplane  behind  the  Ger- 
man lines,  and  soon  afterward  Immelman  dropped 
his  answer  behind  the  British  lines : 

Captain  Ball  : 

Your   challenge   is   accepted.     The    German    guns    will    not 

interfere.     I  will  meet  you  promptly'  at  two. 

Immelman. 

A  few  minutes  before  two,  the  guns  ceased  firing, 
and  all  on  both  sides  fixed  their  eyes  in  the  air  to 
witness  a  contest  between  two  knights  that  would 
make  the  contests  of  the  days  of  chivalry  seem  tame. 


Cvjii/rii/hl  by  Underwood,  &  Under wuud,  A  .  >'. 

A  Battijo  in  thk  Aiu 

The  Frerif'h  plane  ;it  the  top  is  maneuvering  for  position  prei)aratory  to  swooi)ing 
down  on  its  Gornuin  adversary. 


267 


268  LEST   WE   FORGET 

In  an  air  battle,  the  machine  that  is  higher  up  is 
thought  to  have  the  advantage.  Both  Ball  and  Im- 
melman  went  up  verj^  high,  but  Ball  was  below  and 
seemed  uncertain  what  to  do.  The  British  were 
afraid  that  he  had  lost  his  nerve  and  courage  when 
he  found  himself  below,  for  he  made  no  effort  to  get 
above  his  opponent,  but  was  flying  now  this  way  and 
now  that,  as  if  ''rattled." 

Immelman  did  not  delay,  but  went  into  a  nose 
dive  directly  towards  the  machine  below,  which  he 
would  be  able  to  rake  with  his  machine  gun  as  he 
approached ;  but  just  at  the  proper  moment,  Ball 
suddcnl}'  looped  the  loop  and  was  directly  above  the 
German,  and  in  position  to  fire.  As  the  shower  of 
bullets  struck  Immehnan  and  his  machine,  it  burst 
into  flames  and  dropped  like  a  blazing  comet. 

Ball  returned  to  his  hangar,  got  a  wreath  of  flowers, 
and  went  into  the  air  again  to  drop  them  upon  the 
spot  where  Immelman  had  fallen  dead. 

Four  days  later  Ball  was  killed  in  a  fight  with  four 
German  planes,  but  not  until  he  had  brought  down 
three  of  them. 

But  the  fighting  planes  do  not  get  all  the  thrills  in 
the  air.  A  young  English  aviator  and  his  observer 
who  were  directing  artiller}^  fire  in  September,  1918, 
showed  as  great  devotion  and  courage  as  any  ace  and 
lived  through  as  exciting  an  adventure  as  ever  befell 
a  fighting  plane. 


BIRDMEN  269 

They  were  flying  over  No  Man's  Land  to  get  the 
proper  range  for  a  battery  which  was  to  destroy  a 
bridge  of  great  value  to  the  Huns.  Their  engine  had 
been  running  badly  and  back-firing.  They  would  have 
returned  home  had  their  work  been  of  less  importance. 

Suddenly  the  pilot  smelled  burning  wood,  and  look- 
ing down,  saw  the  framework  near  his  feet  blackened 
and  smoldering.  It  had  caught  fire  from  the  back- 
fire of  the  engine  and  the  exhaust,  but  was  not  yet  in 
a  decided  blaze.  He  turned  off  the  gas  and  opened  the 
throttle.  Then  he  made  a  steep,  swift  dive,  and  the 
powerful  rush  of  the  air  put  the  fire  out. 

Then  he  hesitated,  trying  to  decide  whether  to 
'^play  safe"  and  go  home  or  whether  to  continue  their 
work  until  the  battery  had  secured  the  exact  range. 
He  knew  that  in  a  very  short  time  and  with  a  little 
more  observation,  their  work  would  be  completely 
successful.  So  he  turned  to  the  observer  and  asked 
him  what  he  thought.  The  observer  leaned  over  and 
examined  the  damage  near  the  pilot's  feet.  It  did 
not  look  very  bad;  so  he  shouted,  '^ Let's  carry  on." 

Up  they  went  again  and  in  a  short  time  had  shells 
from  the  battery  falling  all  about  the  bridge,  which 
was  soon  destroyed.  Their  work  was  done,  and  well 
done.  In  the  excitement  they  had  forgotten  tlic  bad 
engine  until  they  heard  it  give  one  last  sputter  and 
stop. 

Then  they  perceived  the  woodwork  was  on  fire  again 


270  LEST    WE   FOIUJI^^T 

and  really  blazing  this  time.  To  dive  now  would  only 
fan  the  flames  about  the  idiot's  feet,  but  they  must  get 
to  the  ground,  and  get  there  quickly,  too. 

The  pilot  i)ut  the  machine  into  a  side  slip  toward 
the  British  line.  This  fanned  the  flames  away  from 
his  feet.  The  observer  squirted  the  fire  extinguisher 
on  the  burning  wood  near  the  pilot's  feet,  and  thu.s 
enabled  him  to  keep  control  of  the  rudder  bar. 

They  were  now  within  fifteen  hundred  feet  of  the 
ground,  but  the  heat  was  almost  unbearable.  The 
right  wing  was  beginning  to  burn.  Down,  down,  they 
went,  and  luckily  towards  a  fairl}^  good  landing  place. 
One  landing  wheel  struck  the  ground  with  such  force 
that  it  was  broken  off,  and  the  airplane  bumped  along 
on  the  other  for  a  short  distance  until  it  finallj^  crashed 
on  its  nose  and  left  wing. 

Both  pilot  and  observer  were  unhurt.  They  sprang 
to  the  ground  and  hurried  away  from  the  burning 
wreck  just  in  time,  for  a  few  seconds  later  the  gasoline 
tank  exploded.  Thej^  looked  at  each  other  without  a 
word,  but  neither  of  them  regretted  that  he  had  stayed 
up  until  the  job  had  been  finished. 

Such  is  the  life  and  the  danger  of  the  flyers ;  but 
thousands  of  the  finest  young  men  of  all  the  nations 
at  war  eagerly  seek  the  service,  for  the  aviators  are 
the  eyes  of  the  armies  and  will  determine  always  more 
than  any  other  branch  which  side  shall  be  finally 
victorious. 


ALAN   SEEGER 

AS  England  and  the  world  lost  Rupert  Brooke, 
80  America  and  the  world  lost  Alan  Seeger. 
English  poetry  and  lovers  of  beautj^  expressed  in 
verse  are  losers  to  a  greater  extent  than  we  can  ever 
know. 

It  is  not  strange  that  these  two  young  poets  should 
have  enlisted  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  for 
they  recognized  what  high-minded  men  mean  b}^ 
noblesse  oblige.  Much  having  been  given  you,  much 
is  expected  from  you.  Those  of  the  highest  educa- 
tion should  show  the  wa}^  to  those  less  favored.  So 
Rupert  Brooke  enlisted  in  the  English  navy,  and 
Alan  Seeger  enlisted  in  the  French  army  as  one  of 
the  Foreign  Legion. 

He  felt  he  owed  a  debt  to  France  that  could  only 
be  paid  by  helping  her  in  her  struggle  for  life  and 
liberty.  He  gave  his  life,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
to  pay  the  debt. 

Alan  Seeger  lived  a  life  like  that  of  many  other 
American  boys.  At  Staten  Island  where  h(^  passed 
his  first  years,  he  could  see  every  day  the  Statue  of 
Liberty,    Brooklyn    Bi-idge,    the    skyscrapers   of   New 

BASED  ON  POEMS  OF  A1,.\N  rtEE(JE|{,   COPYliKiHT   HEI.I)    IIY    CIIAni.KS    SfKIHNElt'rt   rtONH. 

271 


272  LEST   WE  FORGET 

York,  the  ferry  boats  to  the  Jersey  shore,  the  great 
ocean  liners  inward  bound  and  outward  bound,  — 
all  the  great  and  significant  things  that  say  "America" 
to  one  landing  for  the  first  time  at  the  greatest  sea- 
port of  the  world.  Later  he  lived  in  New  York  and 
attended  the  Horace  Mann  School.  His  vacations 
were  spent  among  the  hills  and  mountains  of  New 
Hampshire  and  in  southern  California.  He  fitted  for 
college  at  a  famous  preparatory  school  at  Tarrytown 
on  the  Hudson,  attended  Harvard  College,  and  after 
graduation  lived  for  two  years  in  New  York  City. 
All  this  is  American,  and  thousands  of  other  American 
boys  have  passed  through  the  same  or  a  similar  ex- 
perience. 

Alan  Seeger  was  romantic.  So  are  most  boys.  But 
with  most  boys,  romance  goes  no  further  than  books 
and  dreams.  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  '^  Huckleberry  Finn," 
"Treasure  Island,"  and  other  tales  of  adventure  and  of 
foreign  lands  are  all  the  romance  that  many  know. 
But,  like  Rupert  Brooke,  Alan  Seeger  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  live  romance,  as  he  always  declared  he  w^ould 
do.  He  found  it  in  his  life  as  a  boy  in  Mexico,  as  a 
young  man  in  Paris,  and  in  the  Foreign  Legion  of  the 
French  army.  The  Foreign  Legion  w^as  made  up  of 
foreigners  in  France  who  volunteered  to  fight  w^ith 
the  French  army.  Its  story  is  a  stirring  one  of  brave 
deeds  and  tremendous  losses.  To  have  belonged  to 
it  is  a  great  glory. 


ALAN   SEEGER  273 

Alan  Seeger  enjoyed  life  and  found  the  world  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful.     He  says, 

From  a  boy 
I  gloated  on  existence.     Earth  to  me 
Seemed  all  sufficient,  and  my  sojourn  there 
One  trembling  opportunity  for  joy. 

Like  Rupert  Brooke,  he  thought  often  of  Death, 
which  he  feared  not  at  all.  In  his  beautiful  poem 
entitled,  "  I  Have  a  Rendezvous  with  Death,"  he 
looked  forward  to  his  own  death  in  the  spring  of  1916. 
He  lost  his  life  on  July  4  of  that  year  while  storm- 
ing the  village  of  Belloy-en-Santerre.  The  first  two 
stanzas  are  as  follows  : 

I  have  a  rendezvous  with  Death 

At  some  disputed  barricade, 

When  Spring  comes  back  with  rustling  shade 

And  apple  blossoms  fill  the  air  — 

I  have  a  rendezvous  with  Death 

When  Spring  brings  back  blue  days  and  fair 

It  may  be  he  shall  take  my  hand 

And  lead  me  into  his  dark  land 

And  close  my  eyes  and  quench  my  breath  - 

It  may  be  I  shall  pass  him  still. 

I  have  a  rendezvous  with  Death 

On  some  scarred  slojx)  of  battered  iiill, 

When  Spring  comes  round  again  this  year 

And  the  first  meadow  flowers  appear. 


274  LEST   \\K   I'OROKT 

Alan  Sooner  has  \viitt(Mi  two  jiociiis  that  all  Amer- 
icans shoiikl  know.  One  is  entitled  "Ode  in  Memory 
of  the  American  Volunteers  Fallen  for  France."  It 
was  to  have  been  read  before  the  statue  of  Lafaj^ette 
and  Washington  in  Paris,  on  ]\Iemorial  Day,  1916 ; 
but  permission  to  go  to  Paris  to  read  it  did  not 
reach  Seeger  in  time,  to  the  disa])pointment  of  him 
and  many  others.  It  is  perhai)s  the  best  long  poem 
Seeger  has  written,  although  ''Champagne,  1914-15" 
is  by  many  ranked  ahead  of  it. 


'' A  man  is  judged  and  ranked  by  that  which  he  con- 
siders to  be  of  the  greatest  value.  Some  men  believe 
it  is  knowledge,  and  spend  their  lives  in  study  and  re- 
search ;  some  think  it  is  beauty,  and  vainly  seek  to  cap- 
ture it  and  hold  it  in  song,  poem,  statue,  or  painting; 
some  sa}^  it  is  goodness,  and  devote  their  lives  to 
service,  self-denial,  and  sacrifice ;  some  declare  it  is  life 
itself,  and  therefore  never  kill  any  creature  and  always 
carefully  protect  their  ow^n  lives  from  disease  and 
danger ;  and  some  are  sure  it  is  being  true  to  the  best 
knowledge,  the  greatest  beauty,  the  highest  good  that 
one  can  know'  and  feel  and  realize ;  for  this  alone  is 
life,  and  times  come  when  the  only  w^ay  to  save  one's 
Hfe  is  to  lose  it." 


CAN   WAR   EVER   BE   RIGHT? 

AFTER  England  had  entered  the  war  against 
the  Central  Powers,  Gilbert  Murray,  an  English 
writer,  asked  this  question  and  answered  it  by  saying 
''Yes,"  and  giving  his  reasons. 

He  had  always  favored  peace.  He  hated  war,  not 
merely  for  its  own  cruelty  and  folly,  but  because  it 
was  an  enemy  of  good  government,  of  friendship  and 
gentleness,  and  of  art,  learning,  and  literature. 

Yet  he  believed  firmly  that  England  was  right  in 
declaring  war  against  Germany  on  August  4,'  1914, 
and  that  she  would  have  failed  in  her  duty  if  she  had 
remained  neutral.  France,  Russia,  Belgium,  and 
Serbia  had  no  choice.  They  were  obliged  to  fight, 
for  the  war  was  forced  upon  them.  Germany  did  not 
wish  to  fight  England ;  but  after  carefully  looking 
over  the  whole  matter,  England,  of  her  own  fi'ee  will, 
declared  war.  She  took  upon  her  shoulders  a  great 
responsibility.     But  she  was  right. 

With  a  few  changes  in  the  wording  and  some  omis- 
sions, the  argument  of  Gilbert  Murray  is  as  follows : 

''How  can  such  a  thing  be?  Tt  is  easy  enough  to 
see  that  our  cause  is  right,  and  that  tlu^  German  cause 
is  wrong.     Tt  is  hardly  possible  to  stu(l>'  the  official 

275 


276  LEST  WE  FORGET 

papers  issued  by  the  British,  the  German,  and  the 
Russian  governments,  without  seeing  that  Germany 
—  or  some  party  in  Germany  —  had  plotted  this  war 
beforehand ;  that  she  chose  a  moment  when  she 
thought  her  neighbors  were  at  a  disadvantage ;  that 
she  prevented  Austria  from  making  a  settlement  even 
at  the  last  moment ;  that  in  order  to  get  more  quickly 
at  France  she  violated  her  treaty  with  Belgium.  Evi- 
dence shows  that  she  has  carried  out  the  violation 
with  a  cruelty  that  has  no  equal  in  the  wars  of  modern 
and  civilized  nations.  Yet  there  may  be  some  people 
who  still  feel  doubtful.  Germany's  wrong-doing  they 
think  is  no  reason  for  us  to  do  likewise.  We  did  our 
best  to  keep  the  general  peace ;  there  we  were  right. 
We  failed ;  the  German  government  made  war  in 
spite  of  us.  There  we  were  unfortunate.  It  was  a 
war  alread}'  on  an  enormous  scale  and  we  decided  to 
make  it  larger  still.  There  we  were  wrong.  Could 
we  not  have  stood  aside,  as  the  United  States  did, 
ready  to  help  refugees  and  sufferers,  anxious  to  heal 
wounds  and  not  make  them,  watchful  for  the  first 
chance  of  putting  an  end  to  this  time  of  horror? 

'''Try  for  a  moment,'  they  say,  'to  realize  the 
suffering  in  one  small  corner  of  a  battlefield.  You 
have  seen  a  man  here  and  there  badly  hurt  in  an 
accident ;  you  have  seen  perhaps  a  horse  W' ith  its 
back  broken,  and  you  can  remember  how  dreadful 
it  seemed  to  you.     In   that  one  corner   how   many 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE   RIGHT?  277 

men,  how  many  horses,  will  be  lymg,  hurt  far  worse, 
and  just  waiting  to  die?  Terrible  wounds,  extreme 
torment ;  and  all,  further  than  any  eye  can  see,  multi- 
plied and  multiplied !  And,  for  all  your  just  anger 
against  Germany,  what  have  these  wounded  done? 
The  horses  are  not  to  blame  for  anybody's  foreign 
policy.  They  have  only  come  where  their  masters 
took  them.  And  .the  masters  themselves  .  .  .  though 
certain  German  rulers  and  leaders  are  wicked,  these 
soldiers,  peasants,  working-men,  shop-keepers,  and 
schoolmasters,  have  really  done  nothing  in  par- 
ticular ;  at  least,  perhaps  they  have  now,  but  they 
had  not  up  to  the  time  when  you,  seeing  they  were 
in  war  and  misery  already,  decided  to  make  war  on 
them  also  and  increase  their  sufferings.  You  say  that 
justice  must  be  done  on  such  wrong-doers.  But  as 
far  as  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  war  go,  you  are 
simply  condemning  to  death  and  torture  innocent 
men,  by  thousands  and  thousands;  is  that  the  best 
way  to  satisfy  your  sense  of  justice?  These  innocent 
people,  you  say,  are  fighting  to  protect  the  guilty 
parties  whom  you  are  determined  to  reach.  Well, 
perhaps,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  after  millions  of  inno- 
cent peoj^le  have  suffered,  you  may  at  last,  if  all  goes 
well  with  your  arms,  get  at  the  '^guilty  parties."  You 
will  hold  an  inquiry,  you  will  decide  that  certain 
Prussians  with  long  titles  are  the  guilty  parties,  and 
even  then  you  will  not  know  what  to  do  with   theni. 


27S  LEST    \\K    \'\)\{(\KT 

\n[[  will  pr()l)al)ly  try,  aiul  almost  ('(M-taiiil}'  fail,  to 
make  them  somehow  feel  ashamed.  It  is  likely  enough 
that  they  will  instead  IxH'ome  great  national  heroes. 

'"And  after  all,  this  is  sui)posed  to  })e  a  war  in 
whicli  one  party  is  wrong  and  the  other  right,  and 
the  right  wins.  Suj^pose  both  are  wrong;  or  suppose 
the  wrong  party  wins?  It  is  as  likel}'  as  not;  for, 
if  the  right  imrt}"  is  helped  by  his  good  conscience, 
the  wrong  has  probably  taken  pains  to  have  the  odds 
on  his  side  before  he  began  quarreling.  In  that  case, 
all  the  wild  waste  of  blood  and  treasure,  all  the  suffer- 
ing of  innocent  people  and  dumb  animals,  all  the  tears 
of  women  and  children  have  not  set  up  the  right,  but 
established  the  w^'ong.  To  do  a  little  evil  that  great 
or  certain  good  may  come  is  all  very  well ;  but  to  do 
great  evil  foi-  only  a  chance  of  getting  something 
which  half  the  people  may  think  good  and  the  other 
half  think  bad  .  .  .  that  is  neither  good  morals  nor 
good  sense.  Anybody  not  in  a  passion  must  see  that 
it  is  insanity.'  So  they  say  who  think  war  always 
wrong. 

"Their  argument  is  wTong.  It  is  judging  war  as  a 
profit-and-loss  account.  It  leaves  out  of  sight  the 
fact  that  in  some  causes  it  is  better  to  fight  and  be 
broken  than  to  yield  peacefully ;  that  sometimes  the 
mere  act  of  resisting  to  the  death  is  in  itself  a  victory. 

''Let  us  try  to  understand  this.  The  Greeks  who 
fought  and  died  at  Thermopylae  had  no  doubt  that 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE   RIGHT?  279 

they  were  doing  right  to  fight  and  die,  and  we  all 
agree  with  them.  They  probably  knew  they  would 
be  defeated.  They  probably  expected  that,  after  their 
defeat,  the  Persians  would  easily  conquer  the  rest  of 
Greece,  and  would  treat  it  much  more  harshly  because 
it  had  resisted.  But  such  thoughts  did  not  affect 
them.  They  would  not  consent  to  their  country's 
dishonor. 

''Take  again  a  very  clear  modern  case:  the  fine 
story  of  the  French  tourist  who  was  captured,  together 
with  a  priest  and  some  other  white  people,  by  Moorish 
robbers.  The  Moors  gave  their  prisoners  the  choice 
either  to  trample  on  the  Cross  or  to  be  killed.  The 
Frenchman  was  not  a  Christian.  He  disliked  Chris- 
tianity. But  he  was  not  going  to  trample  on  the 
Cross  at  the  orders  of  a  robber.  He  stuck  to  his 
companions  and  died  with  them. 

''Honor  and  dishonor  are  real  things.  I  will  not 
try  to  define  them ;  but  will  only  notice  that,  like 
religion,  they  admit  no  bargaining.  Indeed,  we  can 
almost  think  of  honor  as  being  simi)l3'  that  which  a 
free  man  values  more  than  life,  and  dishonor  as  that 
which  he  avoids  more  than  suffering  or  death.  And 
the  important  point  for  us  is  that  there  are  such  things 
as  honor  and  dishonor. 

"There  are  some  people,  followers  of  Tolstoy,  who 
accept  this  as  far  as  dying  is  concerned,  but  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  killing.     Passive  resistance,  they 


280  LEST   WE  FORGET 

say,  is  right;  martyrdom  is  right;  but  to  resist  vio- 
lence by  violence  is  sin. 

"I  was  once  walking  with  a  friend  of  Tolstoy's  in  a 
country  lane,  and  a  little  girl  was  running  in  front  of 
us.  I  put  to  him  the  well-knoAvn  question  :  'Suppose 
you  saw  a  man,  wicked  or  drunk  or  mad,  run  out  and 
attack  that  child.  You  are  a  big  man,  and  carrj^  a 
big  stick :  would  you  not  stop  him  and,  if  necessary, 
knock  him  down?'  'No,'  he  said,  'why  should  I 
commit  a  sin.  I  would  try  to  persuade  him,  I  would 
stand  in  his  way,  I  would  let  him  kill  me,  but  I  would 
not  strike  him.'  Some  few  people  will  always  be 
found,  less  than  one  in  a  thousand,  to  take  this  view. 
They  will  say  :  '  Let  the  little  girl  be  killed  or  carried 
off ;  let  the  wicked  man  commit  another  wickedness ; 
I,  at  any  rate,  will  not  add  to  the  mass  of  useless 
violence  that  I  see  all  around  me.' 

"With  such  persons  one  cannot  reason,  though  one 
can  often  respect  them.  Nearly  every  normal  man 
will  feel  that  the  real  sin,  the  real  dishonor,  lies  in 
allowing  such  an  act  to  be  committed  under  your 
eyes  while  you  have  the  strength  to  prevent  it.  And 
the  stronger  you  are,  the  greater  your  chance  of  suc- 
cess, by  so  much  the  more  are  you  bound  to  interfere. 
If  the  robbers  are  overpoweringly  strong  and  there  is 
no  chance  of  beating  them,  then  and  onl}^  then  should 
you  think  of  martyrdom.  INIartjTdom  is  not  the  best 
possibility.     It   is  almost  the  worst.     It  is  the  last 


CAN  WAR  EVER  BE  RIGHT?  281 

resort  when  there  is  no  hope  of  successful  resistance. 
The  best  thing  —  suppose  once  the  robbers  are  there 
and  intent  on  crime  —  the  best  thing  is  to  overawe 
them  at  once ;  the  next  best,  to  defeat  them  after  a 
hard  struggle ;  the  third  best,  to  resist  vainly  and  be 
martyred ;  the  worst  of  all,  the  one  evil  that  need 
never  be  endured,  is  to  let  them  have  their  own  will 
without  protest. 

''We  have  noticed  that  in  all  these  cases  of  honor 
there  seems  to  be  no  counting  of  cost,  no  balancing 
of  good  and  evil.  Ordinarily  we  are  always  balancing 
results,  but  when  honor  or  religion  come  on  the  scene, 
all  such  balancing  ceases.  The  point  of  honor  is  the 
point  at  which  a  man  says  to  some  wrong  proposal, 
'I  will  not  do  it.     I  will  rather  die.' 

''These  things  are  far  easier  to  see  where  one  man 
is  concerned  than  where  it  is  a  whole  nation.  But 
they  arise  with  nations,  too.  In  the  case  of  a  nation 
the  material  consequences  are  much  larger,  and  the 
point  of  honor  is  apt  to  be  less  clear.  But,  in  general, 
whenever  one  nation  in  dealing  with  another  relies 
simply  on  force  or  fraud,  and  denies  to  its  neighbor 
the  common  consideration  due  to  human  beings,  a 
point  of  honor  must  arise. 

"Austria  bays  suddenly  to  Serbia:  'You  are  a 
wicked  little  state.  I  have  annexed  and  governed 
against  their  will  some  millions  of  your  countrymen, 
yet  you  are  still  full  of  anti-Austrian  feeling,  which 


282  LEST    WV:    lolJCIT 

1  do  not  iiit(Mul  to  allow.  You  will  dismiss  from 
your  service  all  officials,  i)oliticiaiis,  and  soldiers  who 
tlo  not  love  Austria,  and  1  will  further  send  j'ou  from 
time  to  time  lists  of  i^ersons  whom  you  are  to  dismiss 
or  put  to  death.  And  if  you  do  not  a^Tee  to  this 
within  forty-eight  hours,  I,  being  vastly  stronger  than 
you,  will  make  you.'  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Serbia  did 
her  very  best  to  compl}^  with  Austria's  demands ; 
she  accepted  about  two  thirds  of  them,  and  asked 
for  arbitration  on  the  remaining  third.  But  it  is 
clear  that  she  could  not  accept  them  all  without  being 
dishonored.  That  is,  Serbia  would  have  given  up  her 
freedom  at  the  threat  of  force ;  the  Serbs  would  no 
longer  be  a  free  people,  and  every  individual  Serb 
would  have  been  humiliated.  He  would  have  con- 
fessed himself  to  be  the  kind  of  man  who  will  yield 
when  an  Austrian  bullies  him.  And  if  it  is  urged 
that  under  good  Austrian  government  Serbia  would 
become  richer  and  safer,  and  the  Serbian  peasants 
get  better  markets,  such  pleas  cannot  be  listened  to. 
They  are  a  price  offered  for  slavery ;  and  a  free  man 
will  not  accept  slavery  at  any  price. 

"Germany,  again,  says  to  Belgium:  'We  have  no 
quarrel  with  you,  but  we  intend  for  certain  reasons 
to  march  across  your  territory  and  perhaps  fight  a 
battle  or  two  there.  We  know  that  you  are  pledged 
by  treaty  not  to  allow  any  such  thing,  but  we  cannot 
help  that.     Consent,  and  we  will  pay  you  afterwards ; 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE  RIGHT?  283 

refuse,  and  we  shall  make  you  wish  you  had  never 
been  born.'  At  that  moment  Belgium  was  a  free, 
self-governing  state.  If  it  had  yielded  to  Germany's 
demand,  it  would  have  ceased  to  be  either  free  or 
self-governing.  It  is  possible  that,  if  Germany  had 
been  completely  victorious,  Belgium  would  have  suf- 
fered no  great  material  injury ;  but  she  would  have 
taken  orders  from  a  stranger  who  had  no  right  to 
give  them,  simply  because  he  was  strong.  Belgium 
refused.  She  has  had  some  of  her  towns  destroyed, 
some  thousands  of  her  soldiers  killed,  many  more 
thousands  of  her  women,  children,  and  non-combatants 
outraged  and  beggared ;  but  she  is  still  free.  She 
still  has  her  honor. 

''Let  us  think  this  matter  out  more  closely.  The 
follower  of  Tolstoy  will  say:  'We  speak  of  Belgium's 
honor  and  Serbia's  honor ;  but  who  is  Serbia  and 
who  is  Belgium?  There  is  no  such  person  as  either. 
There  are  only  great  numbers  of  people  who  happen 
to  be  Serbians  and  Belgians,  and  who  mostly  have 
had  nothing  to  do  with  questions  at  issue.  Some  of 
them  are  honorable  people,  some  dishonorable.  The 
honor  of  each  one  of  them  depends  very  much  on 
whether  he  pays  his  debts  and  tells  the  truth,  but 
not  in  the  least  on  whether  a  number  of  foreigners 
walk  through  his  country  or  interfere  with  his  gov- 
ernment. King  Albert  and  his  ministers  might  feel 
humiliated  if  the  German  government  compelled  them 


2^  LEST   WE   FORGET 

to  give  way  against  their  will ;  but  would  the  ordinary 
population?  Would  the  ordinary  peasant  or  shop- 
keeper or  artisan  in  the  districts  of  Vise  and  Liege 
and  Louvain  have  felt  particularly  disgraced  or 
ashamed?  He  would  probabl}^  have  made  a  little 
mone}'  and  been  greatly  amused  by  the  sight  of  the 
troops  passing.  He  would  not  have  suffered  any  in- 
jury that  can  for  a  moment  be  compared  with  what 
he  has  suffered  now,  in  order  that  his  government 
might  feel  proud  of  itself.' 

''I  will  not  raise  the  point  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
to  grant  a  right  of  way  to  Germany  would  have  been 
to  declare  war  against  France,  so  that  Belgium  would 
not,  by  giving  up  her  independence,  have  been  spared 
the  danger  of  war.  I  will  assume  that  it  was  simply 
a  question  of  honor.  And  I  believe  that  our  follower 
of  Tolstoy  is  ver}^  wrong. 

''Is  it  true,  in  a  healthy  and  well-governed  state, 
that  the  average  citizen  is  indifferent  to  the  honor 
of  his  country?  We  know  that  it  is  not.  True,  the 
average  citizen  may  often  not  understand  what  is 
going  on,  but  as  soon  as  he  knows,  he  cares.  Suppose 
for  a  moment  that  the  King,  or  the  Prime  Minister, 
or  the  President  of  the  United  States,  were  found  to 
be  in  the  pay  of  a  foreign  state,  can  any  one  pretend 
that  the  ordinary  citizens  of  Great  Britain  or  America 
would  take  it  quietly?  That  any  normal  man  would 
be  found  saying:    'Well,  the  King,  or  the  President, 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE  RIGHT?  285 

or  the  Prime  Minister,  is  behaving  dishonorably,  but 
that  is  a  matter  for  him,  not  for  me.  I  am  an  honest 
and  honorable  man,  and  my  government  can  do 
what  it  likes.'  The  notion  is  absurd.  The  ordinary 
citizen  would  feel  instantly  and  without  question  that 
his  country's  honor  involved  his  own.  And  woe  to 
the  society  in  which  it  were  otherwise !  We  know  of 
such  societies  in  history.  They  are  the  kind  which 
is  called  ^corrupt,'  and  which  generally  has  not  long 
to  live.  Belgium  has  proved  that  she  is  not  that 
kind  of  society. 

''But  what  about  Great  Britain  herself?  At  the 
present  moment  a  very  clear  case  has  arisen,  and  we 
can  test  our  own  feelings.  Great  Britain  had,  by  a 
solemn  treaty,  pledged  herself  to  help  keep  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium.  Belgium  is  a  little  state  lying 
between  two  very  strong  states,  France  and  Germany, 
and  in  danger  of  being  overrun  or  abused  by  one  of 
them  unless  the  Great  Powers  guaranteed  her  safety. 
The  treaty,  signed  by  Prussia,  Russia,  Austria,  France, 
and  Great  Britain,  bound  all  these  Powers  not  to 
attack  Belgium,  move  troops  into  it,  or  annex  any 
part  of  it ;  and  further,  to  resist  by  armed  force  any 
Power  which  should  try  to  do  any  of  these  things. 
Belgium,  on  her  part,  was  bound  to  maintain  her 
own  neutrality  to  the  best  of  her  power,  and  not  to 
side  with  any  state  which  was  at  war  with  another, 

''At  the  end  of  July,  1914,  the  exact  case  arose  in 


•281)  LKST    WE   1\)KGET 

which  wc  had  i^lodged  our.selvcs  to  act.  Germany, 
suddenly  and  without  excuse,  invaded  Belgium,  and 
Belgium  appealed  to  us  and  France  to  defend  her. 
^Meantime  she  fought  alone,  desperately,  against  over- 
whelming odds.  The  issue  was  clear.  The  German 
Chancellor,  Herr  von  Bethmann-Holhveg,  in  his  speech 
of  August  6,  admitted  that  Germany  had  no  grievance 
against  Belgium,  and  no  excuse  except  'necessity.' 
She  could  not  get  to  France  quick  enough  by  the 
direct  road.  Germany  put  her  case  to  us,  roughly, 
on  these  grounds.  'True,  you  did  sign  a  treaty,  but 
what  is  a  treaty?  We  ourselves  signed  the  same 
treaty,  and  see  what  we  are  doing!  Anyhow^  treaty 
or  no  treaty,  we  have  Belgium  in  our  power.  If  she 
had  done  what  w^e  wanted,  we  would  have  treated 
her  kindly ;  as  it  is  we  shall  show  her  no  mercy.  If 
you  will  now  do  what  we  want  and  stay  quiet,  later 
on  we  will  consider  a  friendl}^  deal  \vith  you.  If 
you  interfere,  you  must  take  the  consequences.  We 
trust  you  Avill  not  be  so  insane  as  to  plunge  your  whole 
empire  into  danger  for  the  sake  of  "a  scrap  of  paper." ' 
Our  answer  was :  '  Evacuate  Belgium  within  twelve 
hours  or  we  fight  you.' 

''I  think  that  answer  w^as  right.  Consider  the 
situation  carefully.  No  question  arises  of  overhaste 
or  lack  of  patience  on  our  part.  From  the  first  moment 
of  the  crisis,  we  had  labored  night  and  day  in  every 
court  of  Europe    for    any    possible  means  of  peace. 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE   RIGHT?  287 

We  had  carefully  and  sincerely  explained  to  Germany 
beforehand  what  attitude  she  might  expect  from  us. 
We  did  not  send  our  ultimatum  till  Belgium  was 
already  invaded.  It  is  just  the  plain  question  put  to 
the  British  government,  and,  I  think,  to  every  one 
who  feels  himself  a  British  citizen :  '  The  exact  case 
contemplated  in  your  treaty  has  arisen  :  the  people 
you  swore  to  protect  is  being  massacred ;  will  you 
keep  your  word  at  a  gigantic  cost,  or  will  you  break 
it  at  the  bidding  of  Germany?'  For  my  own  part, 
weighing  the  whole  question,  I  would  rather  die  than 
submit ;  and  I  believe  that  the  government,  in  de- 
ciding to  keep  its  word  at  the  cost  of  war,  has  expressed 
the  feeling  of  the  average  British  citizen. 

"War  is  not  all  evil.  It  is  a  true  tragedy,  which 
must  have  nobleness  and  triumph  in  it  as  well  as 
disaster,  but  we  must  not  begin  to  praise  war  with- 
out stopping  to  reflect  on  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  human  beings  involved  in  such  horrors  of  pain 
that,  if  here  in  our  ordinary  hours  we  saw  one  man 
so  treated,  the  memory  would  sicken  us  to  the  end 
of  our  lives ;  we  must  remember  the  horses  and  dogs, 
remember  the  gentle  natures  brutalized  by  hardship 
and  filth,  and  the  once  decent  persons  transformed 
by  rage  and  fear  into  devils  of  cruelty.  But,  when 
we  have  realized  that,  we  may  })egin  to  see  in  this 
desert  of  evil  some  oases  of  good. 

''Do  the  fighting  men  become  degraded?     Day  after 


288  LEST   WE   FORGET 

day  come  streams  of  letters  from  the  front,  odd  stories, 
fragments  of  diaries,  and  the  hke ;  full  of  the  small 
intimate  facts  which  reveal  character,  and  almost  with 
one  accord  they  show  that  these  men  have  not  fallen, 
but  risen.  No  doubt  there  has  been  some  selection 
in  the  letters ;  to  some  extent  the  writers  repeat  what 
they  wish  to  have  remembered,  and  say  nothing  of 
what  they  wish  to  forget.  But,  when  all  allowances 
are  made,  one  cannot  read  the  letters  and  the  dis- 
patches without  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  men 
about  whom  they  tell.  They  were  not  originally  a 
set  of  chosen  men.  They  were  just  our  ordinary 
fellow  citizens,  the  men  you  meet  on  a  crowded  pave- 
ment. There  was  nothing  to  suggest  that  their  con- 
duct in  common  life  was  better  than  that  of  their 
neighbors.  Yet  now,  under  the  stress  of  war,  having 
a  duty  before  them  that  is  clear  and  unquestioned 
and  terrible,  they  are  daily  doing  nobler  things  than 
we  most  of  us  have  ever  had  the  chance  of  doing, 
things  which  we  hardly  dare  hope  that  we  might  be 
able  to  do.  I  am  not  thinking  of  the  rare  achieve- 
ments that  win  a  V.  C.  or  a  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  but  of  the  common  necessary  heroism  of  the 
average  man  ;  the  long  endurance,  the  devoted  obe- 
dience, the  close-banded  life  in  which  self-sacrifice  is 
the  normal  rule,  and  all  men  may  be  forgiven  except 
the  man  who  saves  himself  at  the  expense  of  his  com- 
rade.    I  think  of  the  men  who  share  their  last  biscuit 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE   RIGHT?  289 

with  a  starving  peasant,  who  help  wounded  comrades 
through  days  and  nights  of  horrible  retreat,  who  give 
their  lives  to  save  mates  or  officers. 

''For  example,  to  take  these  two  stories : 
''Relating  his  experiences  to  a  pressman,  Lance- 
Corporal  Edmondson,  of  the  Royal  Irish  Lancers, 
said :  '  There  is  absolutely  no  doubt  that  our  men 
are  still  animated  by  the  spirit  of  old.  I  came  on  a 
couple  of  men  of  the  Argyll  and  Sutherland  High- 
landers who  had  been  cut  off  at  Mons.  One  was 
badly  wounded,  but  his  companion  had  stuck  by  him 
all  the  time  in  a  country  swarming  with  Germans, 
and,  though  they  had  onty  a  few  biscuit  between 
them,  they  managed  to  pull  through  until  we  picked 
them  up.  I  pressed  the  unwounded  man  to  tell  me 
how  they  managed  to  get  through  the  four  days  on 
six  biscuit,  but  he  always  got  angry  and  told  me  to 
shut  up.  I  fancy  he  went  without  anything,  and 
gave  the  biscuit  to  the  wounded  man.  They  were 
offered  shelter  many  times  by  French  peasants,  but 
they  were  so  afraid  of  bringing  trouble  on  these  kind 
folk  that  they  would  never  accept  shelter.  One  night 
they  lay  out  in  the  open  all  through  a  heavy  down- 
pour, though  there  was  a  house  at  hand  where  they 
could  have  had  shelter.  Uhlans  were  on  the  prowl, 
and  they  would  not  think  of  compromising  the  French 
people,  who  would  have  been  glad  to  help  them.' 
"  The  following  story  of  an  unidentified  private  of 


200  LEST   WE    FOIUiET 

the  Royal  IrLsIi  Regiment,  who  deliberately  threw 
away  his  life  in  order  to  warn  his  comrades  of  an 
ambush,  is  told  b>-  a  wounded  corporal  of  the  West 
Yorkshire  Reji;iment  now  in  hospital  in  Woolwich  : 

'"The  i'l^hi  in  which  I  got  hit  was  in  a  little  French 
village  near  to  Rheims.  We  were  working  in  touch 
with  the  French  corps  on  our  left,  and  early  one  morn- 
ing we  were  sent  ahead  to  this  village,  which  we  had 
reason  to  believe  was  clear  of  the  enemy.  On  the 
outskirts  we  questioned  a  French  lad,  but  he  seemed 
scared  and  ran  away.  We  went  on  through  the  long 
narrow  street,  and  just  as  we  were  in  sight  of  the  end, 
the  figure  of  a  man  dashed  out  from  a  farmhouse  on 
the  right.  Immediately  the  rifles  began  to  crack  in 
front,  and  the  poor  chap  fell  dead  before  he  reached 
us. 

'"He  was  one  of  our  men,  a  private  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Regiment.  We  learned  that  he  had  been  cap- 
tured the  previous  day  by  a  party  of  German  cavalry, 
and  had  been  held  a  prisoner  at  the  farm,  where  the 
Germans  were  in  ambush  for  us.  He  tumbled  to 
their  game,  and  though  he  knew  that  if  he  made  the 
slightest  sound  they  would  kill  him,  he  decided  to 
make  a  dash  to  warn  us  of  what  was  in  store.  He 
had  more  than  a  dozen  bullets  in  him  and  there  w-as 
not  the  slightest  hope  for  him.  We  carried  him  into 
a  house  until  the  fight  was  over,  and  then  we  buried 
him  next  day  with  military  honors.     His  identification 


CAN   WAR  EVER  BE   RIGHT?  291 

disk  and  everything  else  was  missing,  so  that  we  could 
only  put  over  his  grave  the  tribute  that  was  paid  to  a 
greater:  ''He  saved  others;  himself  he  could  not 
save."  There  wasn't  a  dry  eye  among  us  when  we 
laid  him  to  rest  in  that  little  village.' 

''Or  I  think  again  of  the  expressions  on  faces  that 
I  have  seen  or  read  about,  something  alert  and  glad 
and  self-respecting  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  are  going 
to  the  front,  and  even  of  the  wounded  who  are  return- 
ing. 'Never  once,'  writes  one  correspondent,  'not once 
since  I  came  to  France  have  I  seen  among  the  soldiers 
an  angry  face  or  heard  an  angry  word.  .  .  .  They  are 
always  quiet,  orderly,  and  wonderfully  cheerful.'  And 
no  one  who  has  followed  the  war  need  be  told  of  their 
heroism.  I  do  not  forget  the  thousands  left  on  the 
battlefield  to  die,  or  the  groaning  of  the  wounded 
sounding  all  day  between  the  crashes  of  the  guns. 
But  there  is  a  strange,  deep  gladness  as  well.  'One 
feels  an  extraordinary  freedom,'  says  a  young  Russian 
officer,  'in  the  midst  of  death,  with  the  bullets  whistling 
round.  The  same  with  all  the  soldiers.  The  wounded 
all  want  to  get  well  and  return  to  the  fight.  They 
fight  with  tears  of  joy  in  their  eyes.' 

"Human  nature  is  a  mysterious  thing,  and  man 
finds  his  weal  and  woe  not  in  the  obvious  places.  To 
have  something  before  you,  cleni'ly  seen,  which  you 
know  you  must  do,  and  can  do,  nnd  will  spend  your 
utmost  strength  and  i)('i'hai)s  your  life  in  doing,  that 


292  LEST   WE  FORGET 

is  one  form  at  least  of  very  high  happiness,  and  one 
that  appeals  —  the  facts  prove  it  —  not  only  to  saints 
and  heroes  but  to  average  men.  Doubtless  the  few 
who  are  wise  enough  and  have  enough  imagination, 
may  find  opportunity  for  that  same  happiness  in- 
everyday  life,  but  in  war  ordinary  men  find  it.  This 
is  the  inward  triumph  which  lies  at  the  heart  of  the 
great  tragedy." 


0  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 

Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill, 

To  pangs  of  nature,  sins  of  will, 
Defects  of  doubt,  and  taints  of  blood ; 

That  nothing  walks  with  aimless  feet ; 

That  not  one  life  shall  ]je  destroyed, 

Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void, 
When  God  hath  made  the  pile  complete ; 

That  not  a  worm  is  cloven  in  vain  ; 

That  not  a  moth  with  vain  desire 

Is  shrivelled  in  a  fruitless  fire, 
Or  but  subserves  another's  gain. 

Behold,  we  know  not  anything  ; 
I  can  but  trust  that  good  shall  fall 
At  last  —  far  off  —  at  last,  to  all, 

And  every  winter  change  to  spring. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 


WHAT   ONE   AMERICAN   DID 

IF  a  person  had  been  standing  one  night  beside 
the  railroad  tracks  in  Germany  in  the  fall  of 
1917,  he  would  have  seen  a  train  speeding  along  through 
the  darkness  at  about  thirty-five  miles  an  hour.  He 
would  have  noticed  through  an  open  window  a  tall  sol- 
dier in  the  uniform  of  an  English  flyer,  a  lieutenant  in 
the  R.  F.  C.  (Royal  Flying  Corps),  stand  up  on  the  seat 
as  if  to  get  something  out  of  the  rack ;  and  then  he 
would  have  been  astounded  to  see  the  same  tall  English 
flyer  come  flying  out  feet  first  through  the  window,  to 
land  on  the  side  of  his  head  on  the  stone  ballast  of  the 
opposite  track. 

Few  persons  could  do  this  and  come  through  alive. 
This  English  flyer  a  few  weeks  before  had  fallen  eight 
thousand  feet,  with  a  bullet  in  his  neck,  when  his  air- 
plane had  been  shot  down  in  a  fight  with  four  German 
machines.  Wlien  picked  up  within  the  German  lines,  he 
was  enough  alive  to  be  taken  to  a  hospital.  The  bullet 
was  removed,  and  he  recovered.  He  was  a  British 
flyer,  simply  because  America  did  not  enter  the  war 
soon   enough   for  him,   and   like   many   other   young 

BY    COURTESY   OF  HARPEU    &    BROTHERS,    NEW   YORK. 

293 


204  l.KST    \\K    FOHCl'T 

Anioricans,  hv  was  oa<>;(M'  to  iifz;lit  the  German  beast 
and  "sav(>  the  world  toi'  diMnoci'acy." 

He  was  l)ein<2;  taken  with  six  otiier  ufticers  from  a 
])rison  in  Belgium  to  a  })ris()n  camp  in  Germany.  He 
knew  that,  once  there,  his  chances  for  escape  would 
be  very  small ;  and  he  felt  he  preferred  death  to  life 
in  a  Gei-man  ])rison  camp.  He  knew  that,  if  he  were 
not  killed  in  his  lea})  from  the  train,  the  Germans 
would  doubtless  shoot  him  as  a  spy,  should  they  suc- 
ceed in  recapturing  him.  Some  Germans  wanted  all 
Americans  who  enlisted  in  the  Allied  armies  to  be 
shot,  as  they  had  shot  Captain  Fryatt,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  non-combatants  attacking  war  forces ; 
for  this  was  before  America  entered  the  war  against 
Germany.  Besides,  prisoners  w^ere  not  allowed  to 
know  what  was  going  on  in  Germany.  An  escaped 
prisoner  who  could  find  out  was,  therefore,  likely  to 
be  treated  as  a  spy. 

Pat  O'Brien's  cheek  w-as  cut  open,  and  his  left  eye 
badly  injured  and  swollen  so  that  he  could  not  oi^en 
it.  He  had  scratched  his  hands  and  wrists,  and 
sprained  his  ankle.  But  he  w^as  hard  to  kill.  In 
the  excitement  caused  by  his  jump  through  the  car 
window,  the  Germans  did  not  stop  the  train  immedi- 
ately, and  so  did  not  reach  the  spot  where  he  had 
fallen,  until  he  had  recovered  consciousness  and  had 
got  aw^ay  from  the  track.  He  was  careful  in  walking 
aw^ay  to  hold  the  tail  of  his  coat  so  that  the  blood 


WHAT   ONE   AMERICAN    DID  295 

dropping  from  his  cheek  would  not  fall  upon  the 
ground  and  show  which  way  he  went.  Before  day- 
light he  had  been  able  to  put  more  than  five  miles 
between  him  and  the  tracks.  He  then  hid  in  a  deep 
woods,  knowing  that  he  must  travel  by  night  and 
keep  out  of  sight  by  day,  for  he  was  wearing  the  uni- 
form of  a  British  flyer. 

The  stor}^  of  his  adventures  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  all  the  strange  and  interesting  stories 
of  the  World  War.  When  he  reached  England,  King 
George  sent  for  him  to  come  to  Buckingham  Palace 
and  spent  nearly  an  hour  listening  to  it.  Lieutenant 
O'Brien  has  published  it  in  a  book  which  he  calls 
''Outwitting  the  Hun."  Boys  and  girls  who  like  an 
exciting  story  of  adventure,  a  true  story,  will  want 
to  read  this  book. 

He  knew  the  North  Star,  and  by  this  he  set  his 
course  west,  in  order  to  reach  Belgium,  and  then  go 
north  from  Belgium  to  Holland.  It  rained  a  great 
share  of  the  time,  but  this  did  not  make  much  differ- 
ence, for  he  had  to  swim  so  many  canals  and  rivers 
that  his  clothes  were  always  wet.  At  first  he  had 
taken  off  his  clothes  when  he  had  to  swim  and  had 
tied  them  in  a  bundle  to  his  head  to  keep  them  from 
getting  wet ;  but  after  he  lost  one  of  his  shoes  in  the 
water  in  this  way  and  had  to  spend  nearly  two  hours 
diving  before  he  recovered  it,  he  swam  with  his  clothes 
and  shoes  on.     He  never  could  have  gonc^  on  without 


290  LEST   WE   FORGET 

shoes.  Had  he  not  been  a  good  diver,  he  could  not 
have  found  the  shoe  in  the  mud  under  eight  feet  of 
water ;  had  he  not  been  a  good  swimmer,  he  could 
not  have  crossed  the  Meuse  River,  nearly  half  a 
mile  wide,  after  many  days  and  nights  of  traveling 
almost  without  food  (as  it  was,  he  dropped  in  a  dead 
faint  when  he  reached  the  farther  side) ;  and  had  he 
not  known  the  North  Star,  he  would  have  had  no 
idea  at  night  w^hether  he  w'as  going  in  the  right  direc- 
tion or  going  in  a  circle.  Rainy  and  cloudy  nights 
delayed  him  greatly. 

He  did  not  dare  ask  for  food  at  the  houses  in  Ger- 
man}",  for  he  would  have  been  immediately  turned  over 
to  the  authorities.  So  he  lived  on  raw  carrots,  turnips, 
cabbages,  sugar  beets,  and  potatoes,  which  he  found 
in  the  fields.  He  knew^  he  must  not  make  a  fire  even 
if  he  could  do  so  in  the  Indian's  way,  by  rubbing  sticks 
together.  He  had  no  matches.  He  found  some  celery 
one  night  and  ate  so  much  of  it  that  it  made  him  sick. 
He  had  onty  the  water  in  the  canals  and  rivers  to  drink, 
and  most  of  this  was  really  unfit  for  human  beings. 
He  lay  for  an  hour  one  night  in  a  cabbage  field  lapping 
the  dew  from  the  cabbage  leaves,  he  was  so  thirsty  for 
pure,  fresh  w^ater. 

One  day  before  he  reached  Belgium,  he  was  aw^akened 
from  his  sleep  in  the  woods  by  voices  near  him.  He 
kept  very  quiet,  and  soon  heard  the  sound  of  axes  and 
saw  a  great  tree,  not  far  from  him,  tremble.     He  was 


WHAT  ONE  AMERICAN  DID  297 

lying  in  a  clump  of  thick  bushes  and  could  not  move 
without  making  a  noise.  He  knew  that  if  the  great 
tree  with  its  huge  branches  fell  in  his  direction,  he 
would  surely  be  killed  or  at  least  pinned  to  the  earth 
and  badly  injured  —  and  his  capture  meant  that  he 
would  be  shot  as  a  spy.  But  there  was  nothing  for 
him  to  do  but  wait,  and  hope.  At  last  the  tree  began 
to  sway,  and  then  fell  away  from  him  instead  of  towards 
him.     He  had  again  escaped  death. 

When  he  reached  Belgium,  which  he  did  in  eighteen 
days  after  his  escape  through  the  car  window,  he 
followed  the  North  Star,  for  he  knew  Holland  was  to 
the  north,  and  once  in  Holland  he  would  be  free.  His 
feet  were  sore  and  bleeding,  his  knees  badly  swollen, 
and  he  was  sick  from  exposure  and  starvation.  For  a 
while,  he  had  a  severe  fever  and  raved  and  talked  all 
night  long  in  his  half  sleeping  state.  He  feared  some 
one  would  hear  him  and  that  he  would  be  taken.  He 
was  weary  and  tired  of  struggling  and  fighting,  and 
ready  to  give  up ;  but  his  will,  his  soul,  would  not  let 
him.  He  tells  us  how  he  raved  when  the  fever  was 
on  him,  and  called  on  the  North  Star  to  save  him  from 
the  coward,  Pat  O'Brien,  who  wanted  him  to  quit. 

He  says  he  cried  aloud,  "  There  you  are,  you  old 
North  Star!  You  want  me  to  get  to  Holland,  don't 
you  ?  But  this  Pat  O'Brien  —  this  Pat  O'Brien  who 
calls  himself  a  soldier  —  he's  got  a  yellow  streak  — 
North  Star — and  he  says  it  can't  be  done!     He  wants 


20S  LEST   WE    FORGET 

n\v  to  quit  —  to  lie  down  here  for  the  Huns  to  find  me 
and  take  me  back  to  Courtrai  —  after  all  you've  done, 
North  Star,  to  lead  me  to  liberty.  Won't  you  make 
this  coward  leave  me,  North  Star?  I  don't  want  to 
follow  him  -    I  just  want  to  follow  you  —  because  you 

—  you  are  taking  me  away  from  tlie  Huns  and  this 
Pat  O'Brien  — this  fellow  who  keeps  after  me  all  the 
time  and  leans  on  my  neck  and  wants  me  to  lie  down 

—  this  yellow  Pat  (3'Brien  who  wants  me  to  go  back  to 
the  Huns!" 

In  Belgium,  he  had  a  somewhat  easier  time,  as  far 
as  food  went,  for  he  found  he  could  go  to  the  Belgian 
houses  and  ask  for  it.  As  he  could  not  speak  the 
language,  and  did  not  want  them  to  know  he  was 
an  English  soldier,  he  pretended  he  was  deaf  and 
dumb.  He  had  finally  succeeded  in  getting  some 
overalls  and  discarding  his  uniform. 

Belgium  was  full  of  German  soldiers,  many  of  them 
living  in  the  houses  of  the  Belgians,  so  he  was  obliged 
to  use  extreme  care  in  approaching  a  house  to  ask  for 
food  or  help.  Everj^  Belgian  was  supposed  to  carr}^ 
a  card,  called  in  German  an  Ausweiss.  It  identified 
the  bearer  when  stopped  by  a  German  sentinel  or 
soldier.  Lieutenant  O'Brien  knew  that  without  this 
card  he  would  be  arrested  and  that  his  looks  made 
him  a  suspicious  character.  His  eye  had  hardly 
healed,  his  face  was  covered  with  a  three  weeks'  beard, 
and  altogether  he  was  a  disreputable  looking  creature. 


WHAT   ONE  AMERICAN   DID  299 

After  very  many  interesting  and  exciting  experiences, 
he  succeeded  in  I'eaching  the  boundary  Hne.  To  pre- 
vent Belgians  taking  refuge  in  Holland  and  to  prevent 
escaped  prisoners,  and  even  German  soldiers,  from 
crossing  the  line  into  this  neutral  country,  where,  if 
they  were  in  uniform,  they  would  be  interned  for  the 
rest  of  the  war,  the  Germans  had  built  all  along  the 
line  three  barbed  wire  fences,  six  feet  apart.  The 
center  fence  was  charged  with  electricit}^  of  such  a 
voltage  that  any  human  being  coming  in  contact  with 
it  would  be  instantly  electrocuted.  This  triple  barrier 
of  wire  was  guarded  by  German  sentinels  day  and 
niglit. 

Lieutenant  O'Brien  reached  the  barrier  in  the  night, 
and  hid  himself  when  he  heard  the  tramp  of  the  Ger- 
man sentinel.  He  waited  until  the  sentinel  returned 
and  noted  carefully  how  long  he  was  gone,  in  order  to 
learn  how  much  time  he  had  in  which  to  work. 

He  thought  he  could  build  a  ladder  out  of  two  fallen 
trees  by  tying  branches  across  them,  and  in  this  way 
get  over  the  ten-foot  center  fence.  He  succeeded  in 
getting  his  ladder  together,  by  working  all  night,  and 
with  it  he  hid  in  the  woods  all  the  next  day.  When 
night  came,  he  shoved  the  laddei-  undei'  the  first 
barbed  wire  fence  and  crawled  in  aftei-  it.  He  placed 
it  carefully  up  against  one  of  the  i)osts  to  which  the 
charged  electric  wires  were  fastened  and  began  to 
climb  up  it,  when  all  of  a  sudden  it  slipped  and  came 


300  LEST   \\K   FORGET 

ill  contact  with  the  live  wires.  The  trees  out  of  which 
he  had  constructed  it  were  so  soaked  with  water  that 
they  made  good  conductors  of  electricity,  and  he  re- 
ceived such  a  charge  that  he  was  thrown  to  the  ground 
unconscious,  where  he  la}'  while  the  sentinel  passed 
within  seven  feet  of  him. 

He  gave  up  the  ladder  and  decided  to  dig  under  the 
live  wires.  He  had  only  his  hands  to  dig  with,  but 
the  ground  was  fairl}^  soft.  After  some  hours,  he  had 
a  hole  deep  enough  and  wide  enough  to  crawl  through 
without  touching  the  live  wire.  He  found  a  wire 
running  along  under  the  ground.  He  knew  this  could 
not  be  alive,  for  the  ground  would  discharge  any 
electricit}^  there  might  be  in  it.  So  he  took  hold  of 
it  and ,  after  much  struggling,  was  able  to  get  it  out  of 
the  way.  Then  he  crawled  carefully  under  the  live 
wires  and  was  a  free  man  in  Holland,  for  he  wore  no 
uniform  and  would  not  be  interned. 

At  the  first  village  he  came  to,  some  of  the  Dutch 
people  loaned  him  enough  money  to  ride  third-class 
to  Rotterdam.  He  said  he  was  glad  he  was  not  riding 
first-class,  for  he  would  have  looked  as  much  out  of 
place  in  a  first-class  compartment  as  a  Hun  would  in 
heaven. 

The  English  consul  at  Rotterdam  gave  him  money 
and  a  passport  to  England,  and  from  there  he  came 
to  see  his  mother,  in  a  little  town  in  Illinois,  called 
Momence. 


RAEMAEKERS 

THERE  are  many  ways  of  fighting,  and  the  Ger- 
mans, in  their  forty-four  years  of  planning  to 
conquer  the  world,  thought  of  them  all.  The  only 
forces  they  neglected  were  the  mighty  forces  of  fair- 
ness, justice,  innocence,  pity,  purity,  friendship,  love, 
and  other  similar  spiritual  forces  that  Americans  have 
been  taught  to  look  upon  as  the  greatest  of  all. 

There  is  a  force  called  Rumor  which  sometimes 
speaks  the  truth,  but  which  usually  lies,  that  is  a 
great  power  for  evil  and  rarely  for  good.  The  Ger- 
mans used  this  with  the  Italian  troops  in  Italy,  send- 
ing into  their  lines,  by  dropping  them  from  airplanes 
and  in  other  ways,  all  sorts  of  rumors  about  Austria 
and  Italy,  about  the  coming  collapse  of  the  Allies, 
about  what  great  friends  the  Russians  and  Germans 
had  become  when  the  Russians  realized  that  it  was 
foolish  and  wrong  to  fight,  —  until  the  Italian  soldiers 
lost  the  spirit  which  had  carried  them  over  the  Alps 
and  very  near  to  the  conquest  of  Austria,  and  were 
then  easily  defeated  in  the  next  powerful  Austrian 
attack. 

German  agents  spread  stories  through  the  papers  of 
the  United  States  to  help  Germany  in  the  eyes  and 

301 


302  LEST   WE   FORGET 

niiiuls  of  the  American  people.  The}'  bought  leading; 
papers  in  Paris  and  one  in  New  York  to  use  in  mis- 
leading l)eoi)le  as  to  Germanj-'s  actions  and  aims. 
They  ])rinted  lies  for  their  own  people  to  make  them 
believe  tlie  war  was  foi-ced  on  (xermany,  and  that 
they  were  figliting  against  the  whole  world,  for  their 
lives  and  for  liberty.  They  published  cartoons  in 
German  i)apers  in  great  numbers  to  cai'rv,  even  to 
those  who  could  not  read,  the  ideas  about  the  war 
and  about  her  enemies  that  German  rulers  wished 
the  people  to  believe. 

The  German  leaders,  in  all  lines,  realize  the  power 
of  advertising,  and  the}^  tried  to  fill  men's  eyes  and 
ears  with  false  statements  of  the  German  cause.  Not 
long  ago  almost  any  kind  of  advertisement  was 
allowed  in  the  papers  published  in  the  United  States. 
Pictures  of  a  man  perfectly  bald  were  printed  side  by 
side  with  others  of  a  man  with  flowing  locks,  all  the 
result  of  a  few  applications  of  Di-.  Quack's  Wonderful 
Hair  Restorer,  or  some  other  ecjually  good.  Letters 
were  published,  bought  and  j^aid  for,  often  from  promi- 
nent people,  declaring  that  two  bottles  (or  more)  of 
some  patent  medicine  had  made  them  over  from 
hopeless  invalids  to  vigorous,  joyous  manhood  or 
womanhood.  Falsehoods,  or  at  least  misleading  state- 
ments, were  given  about  foodstuffs,  either  on  the  pack- 
ages or  in  advertisements  about  them. 

But  the  United  States  government  soon  put  a  stop 


RAEMAEKERS  303 

to  this  misrepresentation  and  compelled  advertisers 
and  food  manufacturers  not  only  to  stop  lying,  but 
even  to  print  the  truth ;  and  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  things  injurious  to  the  public  health  were 
controlled.  The  American  people  want  honesty,  frank- 
ness, and  fair  dealing  in  all  things. 

The  Germans  seem  to  be  a  different  kind  of  people 
in  every  way.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  sometime  they 
will  cease  to  act  as  manufacturers  of  patent  medicines 
and  adulterated  foods  were  accustomed  to  act ;  but 
as  long  as  Germany  is  after  material  gain,  as  these 
manufacturers  were  after  money,  it  is  very  likely 
that  she  Avill  seek  to  get  it  by  deceit  and  lying,  until 
the  governments  of  the  earth  oblige  her  to  be  honest, 
or  quit  business. 

It  is  said  that  it  takes  a  long  time  to  catch  a  lie. 
It  depends,  however,  ui)on  how  many  get  after  it 
and  how  swift  and  powerful  they  are.  German  lies 
have  been  counted  upon  as  a  considerable  part  of 
her  fighting  forces.  She  has  spent  millions  of  dollars 
and  used  thousands  of  men  in  this  service.  Is  it 
not  strange  that  one  Httl(\  almost  insignificant  looking 
Dutchman,  hardly  lieard  of  before  the  war,  has  been 
able  almost  alone  to  defeat  the  money  and  the  men 
used  by  Germany  to  hoodwink  the  world?  But  this 
Dutchman,  Louis  Raemaekers,  working  foi'  \hv  Amster- 
dam Telegraf,  had  for  years  seen  through  German  ideas 
and  aims.     He  says,  "Germany  lias  ne\'('i'  made  any 


304  LEST  WE  FORGET 

secret  of  her  ideas  or  her  intentions.  She  has  always 
been  frank,  as  selfish  people  often  are.  I  have  seen 
througii  the  German  idea  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
A  generation  ago,  I  saw,  as  everyone  who  cared  to  see 
did,  what  it  was  leading  us  to ;  in  fact,  Germany  told 
us." 

And  he  adds  about  the  German  people:  ''There  is 
only  one  w^ay  to  reach  the  modern  German.  Beat 
him  over  the  head.  He  understands  nothing  else. 
The  world  must  go  on  beating  him  over  the  head 
until  he  cries  '  Enough ' ;  or  the  world  can  never  live 
with  him." 

Knowing  Germany,  and  that  German  victory  meant 
the  loss  of  all  that  is  really  worth  while  in  this  world, 
the  loss  of  liberty,  and  the  destruction  of  any  govern- 
ment that  is  what  Lincoln  said  all  governments  should 
be,  ''of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people" 
—  Louis  Raemaekers  fought  German}^  with  his  pen 
and  his  brush,  and  fought  her  so  well  that  the  German 
government  offered  a  large  reward  for  him  dead  or 
alive,  and  a  leading  German  writer  said  he  had  done 
more  harm  to  the  Prussian  cause  than  an  armed  divi- 
sion of  Allied  troops. 

The  Cologne  Gazette,  in  a  furious  article  dealing  with 
Raemaekers,  declared  that  after  the  war  Germany 
would  settle  accounts  with  Holland  and  would  demand 
payment  with  interest  for  the  damage  done  Germany 
by  his  cartoons. 


Civilization  undkk  the  La.sh 

Taken  from  "Raemaekers'  Cartoon  History  of  the  War,"  by  permission  of 

The  Century  Company. 

305 


■M)(\  LEST    \VK    I'OKGET 

Some  of  tlu'  Dutch  jx'oplc  iVared  Germany  so  groatly 
that  tlH\\'  su('{'chh1('(1  in  hi-iniiiii^  Ra(Mnaekoi's  to  trial 
for  having;  violated  the  neutrality  of  Holland.  Ger- 
man iniluenee  was  strong  in  Holland,  and  Raemaekers 
was  hated  b}'  many  of  his  own  i)eople ;  but  the  better 
sense  of  the  Dutch  triumphed,  and  he  was  acquitted. 

One  of  his  first  cartoons  represented  Germany  in  the 
form  of  the  Kaiser,  wearing  a  German  uniform  and 
spiked  helmet,  with  a  foot  ui)on  the  bodj-  of  Luxem- 
burg and  a  knee  upon  the  prostrate  form  of  Belgium, 
whom  he  was  choking  to  death.  He  holds  an  u})lifted 
sword  in  his  hand  and  is  saying,  ^^This  is  how  I  deal 
with  the  small  fry." 

Another  shows  Avith  almost  sickening  force  the 
heart-breaking  suffering  of  Belgian  mothers,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  cruelty  and  hard-heartedness  of  the 
Huns.  A  Belgian  woman  is  kneeling  beside  a  pile  of 
dead  from  her  village,  with  an  expression  of  almost 
insane  suffering  upon  her  face.  A  German  officer  is 
passing,  with  one  hand  thrust  into  his  coat  front  and 
a  cigar  in  his  mouth.  He  stops  to  sa^^  ''Ah!  was 
your  boy  among  the  twelve  this  morning?  Then 
you'll  find  him  among  this  lot." 

A  third  shows  a  German  looting  a  house  and  carry- 
ing away  everything  that  he  thinks  is  of  value  to  him. 
The  furniture  is  smashed  and  a  woman  and  child  lie 
dead  on  the  floor.  The  Hun  is  saying,  ''It's  all  right. 
If  I  had  not  done  it  some  one  else  might." 


RAEMAEKERS  307 

A  fourth  shows  a  line  of  hostages  standing  in  front 
of  a  wall  to  be  shot  for  an  offense  that  the  German 
officer  in  command  claims  some  one  in  the  village 
committed.  Those  taken  as  hostages  are  innocent  of 
wrong  doing.  The  cartoon  shows  the  ends  of  the 
barrels  of  the  German  muskets  pointed  at  the  hearts 
of  the  hostages  and  a  German  officer  with  his  sword 
raised  and  his  lips  parted  to  give  the  order  to  fire.  It 
shows  but  four  of  the  hostages  :  an  old  man,  probably 
the  mayor  of  the  town ;  a  white-haired  priest ;  a 
well-to-do  man,  and  his  son,  about  fourteen  years  of 
age.  The  boy  is  asking,  ''Father,  what  have  we 
done?"  —  the  cry  that  went  up  to  their  Heavenly 
Father  from  thousands  of  martj^rs  in  Belgium. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  German  rulers  fear  this 
Dutch  artist  more  than  they  do  a  division  of  soldiers. 
His  fighting  against  the  Huns  and  their  atrocities  and 
against  the  German  nature  and  teaching  that  made 
these  atrocities  possible  will  continue  in  every  na- 
tion of  the  earth,  as  long  as  printing  presses  furnish 
pictures  and  people  look  at  them. 

His  pen  or  pencil  wrote  a  language  that  all  could 
read,  and  they  spoke  the  truth  so  that  it  turned  all 
who  read  it  against  the  modern  Hun. 

When  he  visited  England,  one  of  the  leading  papers 
declared  that  he  was  a  genius,  probably  the  only 
genius  produced  by  the  war ;  and  that  long  after  the 
most  exciting  and   interesting  arti('l(\s  in  newspapers 


308  LEST  WE  FORGET 

and  magazines  were  forgotten,  and  the  great  number 
of  books  on  the  war  had  been  lost  or  stowed  away  in 
dusty  garrets,  his  cartoons  would  live  and  stir  the 
indignation  of  men  yet  unborn ;  and  that  Louis  Rae- 
maekers  had  nailed  the  Kaiser  to  a  cross  of  immortal 
infamy. 

France  has  honored  him  as  one  of  the  great  heroes 
of  the  war,  and  has  given  him  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

George  Creel  saj'S,  '^He  is  a  voice,  a  sword,  a  flame. 
His  cartoons  are  the  tears  of  women,  the  battle  shout 
of  indomitable  defenders,  the  indignation  of  humanity, 
the  sob  of  civilization.     They  will  go  dow^n  in  history." 

One  of  the  wonderful  painters  of  old  Japan  put  so 
much  of  himself,  of  his  soul  and  heart,  into  every 
stroke  of  his  brush  that  it  was  said,  ''If  a  swift  and 
keen  sword  should  cut  through  his  brush  at  work,  it 
would  bleed." 

Through  the  pen  and  brush  of  Louis  Raemaekers 
has  pulsed  the  heart  blood  of  suffering  Belgium  and 
horrified  humanity;  and  for  this  reason,  his  cartoons 
are  inspired  and  move  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  men 
to  despise  and  condemn  those  who  could  commit  such 
inhuman  deeds. 


THE   GOD   IN   MAN 

A  SOLDIER  on  the  firing  step,  aiming  at  the 
enemy,  is  suddenly  struck ;  and  he  drops  down 
to  the  bottom  of  the  trench.  His  nearest  comrade 
must  keep  on  firing,  but  two  stretcher-bearers  are 
ready  at  their  posts.  They  rush  forward,  take  the 
first-aid  packet  from  the  soldier's  pocket,  cut  his 
clothes  away  from  the  wound,  and  quickly  dress  it. 
They  carry  him  to  the  trench  doctor,  who  treats  the 
wound  again.  Then  they  take  the  soldier  from  the 
trenches  to  the  nearest  field  ambulance,  where  his 
wound  is  again  cared  for. 

He  is  so  badly  hurt  that  he  needs  to  recover  far 
from  the  sound  of  the  thundering  cannon.  But  he 
is  not  so  seriously  injured  that  he  cannot  stand  a 
short  journey.  So  he  is  placed,  as  comfortably  as 
possible,  in  an  ambulance  train,  with  skilled  Red 
Cross  nurses  to  attend  to  him.  The  train  arrives 
just  in  time  to  meet  the  hospital  ship  at  the  port. 
The  soldier  is  carried  on  board,  and  soon  finds  himself 
in  a  quiet  hospital  in  London  —  all  in  little  more  than 
twenty-four  hours,  a  day  and  a  night. 

So  thousands  of  men  have  been  cared  for  each  week, 
by  a  never-ending  line  of  devoted  Red  Cross  stretcher- 

309 


310  LEST    WE    FOHCiET 

boarers,  doi-tors,  and  nurses,  on  the  battlefield,  on  the 
trains,  on  hospital  ships,  and  in  the  home  Iiospitals, 
in  London,  and  in  every  fightinji;  country  in  the  world. 

Some\\hat  hack  tVoni  tlie  lines  ai'c  tlie  stationary 
hospitals,  wheri^  many  soldiers  are  left  who  cannot 
be  carried  farther,  but  nmst  be  treated  there.  ' '  Mush- 
room hospitals  "  they  are  called  ;  for,  although  they 
have  the  api)earance  of  having  been  there  before, 
they  really  have  sprung  up  only  since  the  war  started. 
The  wards  are  spotlessly  clean,  filled  with  rows  and 
lows  of  beds,  also  spotlessly  clean.  Beyond  aie  the 
operating  rooms,  baths,  kitchens,  and  gardens  filled 
Avith  flowers,  where  the  wounded  men  may  breathe 
fresh  air  and  get  back  the  strength  which  they  have  so 
willingly  lost  in  service.  All  the  time,  hundreds  of 
new  patients  are  arriving,  hundreds  are  leaving,  either 
to  go  to  more  distant  hospitals,  or  to  go  back  to  the 
lines  to  fight. 

In  comes  one  soldier  w^ho  does  not  see  or  know 
where  he  is,  nor  who  it  was  that  brought  him.  But 
when  at  last  he  opens  his  eyes,  he  finds  himself  in  a 
spotlessly  clean  white  bed  for  the  first  time  in  months. 
He  looks  about,  and  yes,  there  is  Bobby,  his  own  pet 
collie,  sitting  beside  him.  He  had  lost  him  when  he 
went  over  the  top  in  the  fight ;  but  somehow  Bobby 
had  followed  him  here,  and  somebody  had  been  kind 
enough  to  let  him  stay  beside  his  master  in  this  clean 
and  pleasant  room. 


THE  GOD  IN   ]MAN  311 

B}^  and  by  the  wounded  soldier  grows  well  enough 
to  be  carried  out  into  the  garden.  There  he  and 
Bobby  sit  and  watch  the  men  caring  for  the  flowers. 
These  men  are  not  hired ;  they  are  wounded  soldiers 
helping  about  the  hospital.  The  garden  itself  was 
made  by  a  soldier  who  was  a  gardener  before  the  war. 
Every  man  helps  with  his  knowledge  of  some  trade. 
The  napkin  rings  and  salt  cellars  used  in  the  hospital 
were  made  by  a  soldier  tinsmith  out  of  old  biscuit 
boxes. 

One  day  our  wounded  soldier  becomes  so  well  that 
he  may  walk  away  with  Bobby,  and  a  nurse  brings 
him  his  suit,  his  rifle,  and  all  his  equipment,  nicelv 
cleansed  and  put  in  order. 

So  everybody  does  his  bit  in  the  hospitals.  Dentists 
and  eye-specialists,  surgeons  and  nurses,  wearing  the 
Red  Cross,  work  tirelessly  from  morning  till  night  and 
sometimes  both  day  and  night,  to  save  the  brave 
wounded  men.  They  do  their  work  as  best  they 
can,  sweetly  and  cheerfully,  caring  for  the  German 
soldiers  as  well  as  for  their  own  Allied  soldiers.  To 
know  of  them,  to  watch  them  in  their  work  of  mercy, 
is  to  realize  that  there  is  something  different  from  the 
beast  in  man  —  there  is  the  God  in  man,  the  spirit 
of  love  and  tender,  skillful  care,  which  they  dare  to 
give  in  the  face  of  awful  danger. 

One  of  the  brave  nurses  wrote  home  to  America 
something  of  all  she  was  doing.     Among  many  things, 


312  LEST   WE  FORGET 

she  said:  "The  Huns  were  pouring  down  in  streams 
to  attack  our  men.  I  immediately  began  to  get  the 
hospital  ready  to  receive  the  wounded. 

"Our  surgeon  was  away  on  leave,  but  another 
equally  good  arrived .  On  Tuesday,  the  wounded  men 
began  to  come  in.  Wednesday  and  Thursday  I  served 
from  early  morning  until  midnight.  Bombs  were  burst- 
ing in  the  distance,  and  news  came  that  the  Huns  were 
within  a  few  miles  of  us. 

''A  Red  Cross  unit  came,  and  one  English  nurse 
arrived  to  help  us.  She  had  lost  the  others  in  her 
party,  and  had  walked  miles  to  get  here.  It  seemed 
as  if  God  had  sent  them  all  from  heaven ! 

"All  the  surgical  supplies  that  I  could  save  from 
those  you  sent  me  from  the  Red  Cross,  I  had  put 
awa}^  for  emergency.  I  don't  know  what  we  would 
have  done  without  them  ! 

''I  had  to  see  that  the  surgeons  had  whatever  they 
needed,  and  from  all  sides  every  one  was  calling  for 
help.  Through  it  all,  I  was  up  every  morning  at  four 
and  never  went  to  bed  till  midnight.  The  cannon 
were  roaring,  star  shells  exploding,  bombs  dropping 
around  us,  —  but  nothing  touching  us  ! 

'Tor  eight  days  our  men  fought  gloriously.  They 
were  a  wonder  and  such  a  surprise  to  the  Huns.  Now 
perhaps  they  know  what  they  have  to  face ! 

''The  little  hospital  was  able  to  save  many,  many 
lives.     We  have  sent  away  most  of  our  wounded  to- 


THE  GOD  IN  MAN  313 

day,  and  are  now  waiting  in  suspense  for  what  may 
come  next  —  but  we  are  ready  to  do  our  best,  what- 
ever comes. 

''We  do  not  dare  keep  the  seriously  wounded  now 
for  any  length  of  time,  for  no  one  knows  when  the 
Huns  may  fight  their  way  through.  We  know  what 
the  'front  line'  really  means.  No  one  goes  in  or  out 
except  by  military  or  Red  Cross  camion.  No  private 
telegrams  can  be  sent,  and  to  our  joy,  we  do  not  have 
to  bother  with  food-ration  cards,  for  a  while  at  least. 
Boches  are  over  our  heads  all  day,  and  cannons  boom- 
ing.    I  am  so  used  to  it  now  that  I  don't  mind  it. 

"I  am  so  homesick  to  see  you  all,  but  I  will  not 
leave  my  work  until  the  end  of  this  horrible  war,  if 
God  will  give  me  health  and  strength.  Don't  worry. 
I  intend  to  stick  to  my  post  to  the  end,  and  if  the 
Huns  come  down  upon  us,  the  Red  Cross  will  get  us 
out." 

Nor  are  these  all  of  the  ways  in  which  the  Red  Cross 
shows  the  God  in  man.     From  the  beginning  of  the 
war  until  March,  1918,  over  $36,000,000  of  American 
money  alone  was  spent  in  the  following  ways : 
France,  $30,936,103. 

Established  rest  stations  along  all  routes  followed  by 
the  American  troops  in  France. 

Built  canteens  for  use  of  French  and  American 
soldiers  at  the  front,  also  at  railroad  junctions  and  in 
Paris. 


^514  LE8T    \M';    I'oKClOT 

.Sui)plic(l  Ani(M-i(':ui  troops  witli  comfort  kits  and 
sent  them  Christmas  <i;ifts. 

EstabUshed  a  lu)spital-distril)iitiiig  service  that  su])- 
l)Hes  3423  French  mihtary  liospitals,  and  a  surgical 
dressing  service  that  sui)i)Hes  2000. 

Provided  an  artificial-Hmb  factory  and  special  plants 
for  the  manufacture  of  s]:)lints  and  nitrous  oxide  gas. 

Establislied  a  casualty  service  for  gathering  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  wounded  and  missing,  this  information 
to  be  sent  to  relatives. 

Opened  a  children's  refuge  hospital  in  the  war  zone 
and  established  a  medical  and  traveling  center  to 
accommodate  1200  children  in  the  reconquered  sec- 
tions of  France.  Fifty  thousand  children  throughout 
France  are  being  cared  for  in  some  measure  by  the 
Red  Cross. 

Planned  extensive  reclamation  work  in  the  invaded 
sections  of  France  from  which  the  enemy  has  been 
driven  ;  this  work  is  now  being  carried  out  with  the 
cooperation  of  the  Societ}^  of  Friends  and  alumnae 
units  from  Smith  College  and  other  colleges. 

Established  a  large  central  warehouse  in  Paris  and 
numerous  warehouses  at  important  points  from  the 
sea  to  the  Swiss  border,  for  storing  of  hospital  sup- 
plies, food,  soldiers'  comforts,  tobacco,  blankets,  cloth- 
ing, beds,  and  other  articles  of  relief. 

Secured  and  operated  400  motor  cars  for  the  distri- 
bution of  sui)plies. 


THE  GOD   IN   MAN  315 

Opened  a  hospital  and  convalescent  home  for  chil- 
dren ;  also  established  an  ambulance  service  for  the 
adult  refugees,  who  are  now  returning  from  points 
within  the  German  lines  at  the  rate  of  1000  a 
day. 

Improved  health  conditions  in  the  American  war 
zone  before  the  coming  of  American  troops. 

Belgium,  $2,086,131. 

Started  reconstruction  work  in  reconquered  terri- 
tory, supplying  returned  refugees  with  temporary 
dwellings,  tools,  furniture,  farm  animals,  and  supplies 
essential  to  giving  them  a  fresh  start  in  life. 

Appropriated  $600,000  for  the  relief  of  Belgian 
children,  covering  their  removal  from  territories  under 
bombardment  and  the  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  them  in  colonies. 

Provided  funds  for  the  operation  of  a  hospital  for 
wounded  Belgian  soldiers  and  for  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  a  typhoid  hospital. 

Italy,  $3,588,826. 

Provided  the  Italian  army  witli  60  ambulances, 
40  trucks,  and  100  American  drivers. 

Contracted  for  10  field  hospitals  complete  for  use 
by  the  Sanita  Militaire  and  the  Italian  Red  Cross. 

Supplied  1,000,000  sur-gical  dressings.  Opened  re- 
lief headquarters  in  9  districts  of  Italy. 

Established  a  hospital  for  refugees  at  Rimini. 


316  LEST  WE  FORGET 

Planned  and  made  apiH'opriations  for  extensive  work 
among  the  refugees  in  all  parts  of  Italy. 

RouMANiA,  $2,676,368. 

Rushed  more  than  $100,000  worth  of  medical 
supplies  and  foodstuffs  into  Roumania  immediately 
after  the  retreat  to  Jassy. 

Carried  general  relief  work  into  every  part  of  the 
stricken  country  not  invaded  by  the  Teuton  and 
Bulgarian  forces. 

United  States,  $8,589,899. 

Organized  and  trained  45  ambulance  companies, 
totaling  5580  men,  for  service  with  American  soldiers 
and  sailors. 

Built  and  maintained  four  laboratory  cars  for 
emergency  use  in  stamping  out  epidemics  at  can- 
tonments and  training  camps. 

Started  work  of  bettering  sanitary  conditions  in  the 
zones  immediately  surrounding  the  cantonments. 

Established  camp  service  bureaus  to  look  out  for 
comfort  and  welfare  of  soldiers  in  training. 

Supplied  2,000,000  sweaters  to  soldiers  and  sailors. 

Mobilized  14,000  trained  nurses  for  care  of  our  men. 

Established  a  department  of  Home  Service  and 
opened  training  schools  for  workers. 

Planned  convalescent  houses  at  all  cantonments 
and  training  camps.  Increased  membership  from  scant 
half  million  to  approximately  22,000,000. 


THE  GOD  IN  MAN  317 

For  War  Relief  in  other  countries,  in- 
cluding Great  Britain,  Russia,  and 
Serbia $7,581,075 

To    supply   food   to   American   prisoners 

in  Germany $343,304 

For    supplies    purchased    for    shipment 

abroad $15,000,000 

The  Jewish  Relief  Societies  of  this  country  have 
also  forwarded  large  sums  of  money  to  relieve  the 
terrible  suffering  among  their  people  in  Russia,  Poland, 
Turkey,  Palestine,  and  others  of  the  war-stricken  coun- 
tries. Approximately  $24,000,000  was  sent  abroad  for 
this  purpose  during  the  first  four  years  of  the  war. 

One  evening  the  train  drew  into  the  station  of  a 
little  town  in  France.  It  stopped  long  enough  for 
half  a  hundred  tired,  dusty  soldiers  to  gain  the  plat- 
form, then  puffed  away  out  of  sight.  They  were  not 
the  fighting  soldiers  —  they  were  engineers.  The  men 
looked  about  in  a  bewildered  way  for  tlie  train  with 
which  they  were  supposed  to  connect.  But  it  was 
nowhere  in  sight ;  it  had  gone.  They  were  sorry  not 
to  meet  the  rest  of  their  company,  but  there  was 
nothing  for  them  to  do  but  remain  in  the  town  over- 
night. They  walked  the  streets,  and  found  that 
every  hotel,  boarding  house,  and  private  home  was 
filled  to  the  last  cot.  Thousands  of  American  troops 
were  in  the  town,  on  their  way  to  the  front.     The 


3 IS  LEST   W'K   FORGET 

engineers  had  ridden  for  man}^  hours  and  were  very 
hungry,  Init  their  poekets  were  nearly  empty. 

Suddenly  they  sto})ped  before^  a  large  building 
l)ainted  a  deep  blue,  and  bearing  the  sign, 

Knights  of  Columbus 
Everybody  Welcome. 

The  half  a  hundred  men  walked  in,  passed  group  after 
group  of  soldiers  and  sailors,  and  found  the  secretary. 
Soon  they  were  dining  on  Knights  of  Columbus  ham 
and  eggs,  without  money  and  without  price !  The 
secretary  himself  served  them. 

They  entered  the  large  lounging  room,  found  tables 
covered  with  good  reading  books,  easy  chairs  and 
writing  benches  set  about  the  room,  and  a  stage  at 
the  back  with  piano,  victrola,  and  a  moving  picture 
screen. 

So  when  they  least  expected  it,  but  most  wanted  it, 
they  found  a  place  that  seemed  like  home.  Knights 
of  Comfort,  the  Knights  of  Columbus  have  been  called, 
and  comfort  the}^  have  given  to  thousands  of  soldiers 
and  sailors.  About  $50,000,000  has  been  raised  by  the 
society  for  one  yeai"  of  such  good  work. 

Almost  on  the  very  battleground  is  another  source 
of  comfort  to  the  fighting  men,  —  the  little  huts  with 
the  sign  of  the  Red  Triangle,  —  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  There 
is  hardly  one  American  home  which  has  not  received 
from  some  soldier  a  letter  on  paper  marked  with  the 


THE  GOD   IN   MAN  319 

little  red  triangle.  Thousands  have  been  written  at 
the  benches  inside  the  huts,  and  thousands  of  books 
and  magazines  found  in  the  huts  have  been  read  in 
spare  time  b}"  the  soldier  lads. 

Usually  only  the  paper  for  letter  writing  is  fur- 
nished at  the  huts,  and  the  men  buy  their  post- 
age stamps.  Often  fifty  to  a  hundred  men  are  in 
line  to  purchase  stamps,  so  that  at  times  the  secre- 
tary heaves  a  sigh  of  relief  when  at  last  he  has  to 
hang  up  the  sign  "Stamps  All  Out."  In  one  hut  as 
many  as  three  thousand  letters  have  been  handled  in 
one  day,  besides  parcel-post  packages,  registered  letters, 
and  money-orders. 

The  United  States  government  has  realized  the  valu- 
able services  of  the  society  and  recognized  it  officially, 
permitting  its  men  to  wear  the  uniform,  and  to  ac- 
. company  the  soldiers  right  into  the  trenche ;. 

Often  before  and  alwa3^s  after  the  men  go  into 
battle,  the  ^'Y"  workers  bring  uj)  great  kettles  of 
hot  chocolate  and  a  store  of  biscuit.  This  is  a 
godsend  to  the  men  who  have  been  fighting  for  hours 
with  little,  if  anything,  to  eat. 

Passing  over  tlu^  battlefield,  the  workers  write 
down  messages  from  wounded  and  dying  men,  to  be 
sent  to  their  relatives.  They  learn  all  they  can 
about  those  who  have  been  taken  ])i-isoners,  and  so 
bring  comfort  to  the  i)eople  at  home. 

The  secretaries  send   lo   the   United  States  hvv  of 


320  LEST   WE   FORGET 

charge  money  from  the  soldiers  to  their  home  folks. 
In  one  month,  a  million  dollars  was  brought  to  the 
Y.  AI.  C.  A.  with  the  simple  instructions  that  it  be 
delivered  to  addresses  given  by  the  soldiers.  The 
controller  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company 
in  France  has  had  charge  of  this. 

The  association  has  nearly  400  motor  trucks  en- 
gaged in  various  kinds  of  transport  work.  It  aids 
greatly  in  caring  for  and  entertaining  the  soldiers, 
as  many  as  4000  of  them  at  a  time.  It  has  opened 
many  hotels  in  France,  four  of  them  in  Paris,  and  owns 
several  factories  for  the  making  of  chocolate.  It 
holds  religious  services  for  the  men,  providing  preach- 
ers of  all  the  different  faiths.  So  it,  too,  shares  in  the 
godlike  services  of  the  Red  Cross  and  Knights  of 
Columbus. 

Near  the  trenches  and  at  training  camps,  other 
w^ork  has  been  done  similar  to  that  of  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  and  Knights  of  Columbus,  by  the  Salvation 
Army.  The  soldier  boys  have  especially  enjoyed  the 
doughnuts  and  pies  furnished  them  by  this  society. 

It  has,  it  is  said,  placed  153  comfort  and  refreshment 
huts  at  the  front  in  Europe,  and  is  building  many  more. 
It  maintains  about  80  military  homes,  caring  for 
about  100,000  men  each  week.  It  operates  nearly  50 
ambulances.  Over  700  of  its  members  are  devoting 
their  lives  to  war  work  in  the  trenches  and  at  the 
camps.     It  was  the  first,  it  is  said,  of  the  societies  of 


IN  FLANDERS  FIELDS  321 

mercy  at  the  front,  and  spent  for  the  work  mentioned 
$1,000,000,  all  made  up  of  nickels  and  dimes  of  small 
givers,  before  the  society  made  any  "drive"  for  funds. 
Letters  from  officials,  friends,  and  soldier  boys  tell 
what  glorious  work  these  and  other  similar  societies 
have  done  and  are  doing.  They  bring  a  little  touch 
of  heaven  into  the  very  worst  places  and  conditions, 
and  show  the  God  in  man. 


IN   FLANDERS   FIELDS 

IN  Flanders  fields  the  poppies  blow 
Between  the  crosses,  row  on  row, 
That  mark  our  place ;  and  in  the  sky 
The  larks  still  bravely  singing,  fly 
Scarce  heard  amid  the  guns  below. 

We  are  the  Dead.     Short  days  ago 
We  lived,  felt  dawn,  saw  sunset  glow, 
Loved  and  were  loved,  and  now  wc  lie 
In  Flanders  fields. 

Take  up  our  quarrel  with  the  foe  : 
To  you  from  failing  hands  we  throw 
The  torch ;  be  yours  to  hold  it  high. 
If  ye  break  faith  with  us  who  die 
We  shall  not  sleep,  though  poppies  grow 
In  Flanders  fields. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  John  McCrae. 


THE   WORLD   WAR 

rilHE  story  of  tlie  World  War  is  tho  story  of  the  con- 
1        trol  of  tlie  sea  by  tlie  Allies,  of  land  fighting  on 
two  fronts,  the  western  and  the  eastern,  and  of  sepa- 
rate scattered  campaigns  in  Africa  and  Asia. 

THE    WESTERN    FRONT 

Here  the  war  really  began  and  here  it  seems  likely 
to  be  decided  and  ended.  The  Germans  who  planned 
the  war  were  ready  and,  using  their  railroads  built  for 
that  purpose,  rushed  their  armies  to  the  Belgian  border 
before  France  had  hardly  begun  to  mobilize.  Luxem- 
burg was  overrun  at  once  and  Belgium  invaded.  The 
brave  Belgians  under  General  Leman  held  up  the  ad- 
vance for  several  days  at  Liege  and  saved  France  and 
western  civilization.  The  Huns  soon  occupied  nearly 
all  of  Belgium,  taking  Brussels  on  August  20  and  Ant- 
werp on  October  9. 

They  pushed  on  directly  toward  Paris,  driving  the 
British  who  had  been  landed,  the  Belgians,  and  the 
French,  before  them.  They  advanced  to  within  twenty 
miles  of  Paris,  near  Meaux  on  the  Marne,  and  were 
there  defeated  September  5-10,  1914,  and  forced  to 
retreat  to  the  Aisne,  where  they  entrenched  themselves. 

322 


THE  WORLD   WAR  323 

The  Germans  had  driven  the  British  south  by  con- 
stantly threatening  to  outflank  them,  and  there  had 
been  a  race  to  the  gates  of  Paris.  Now  the  British 
turned  the  tables  and,  in  attempting  to  outflank  the 
Germans,  there  was  a  race  away  from  Paris  to  the 
North  Sea,  with  the  final  result  that  the  enemies  were 
lined  u})  opposite  each  othei*,  from  Switzerland  near 
the  German  border  to  the  coast  between  Dunkirk  and 
Ostend. 

Until  1918  trench  warfare  continued.  The  Germans 
sought  to  drive  the  English  out  of  Ypres,  but  did 
not  succeed.  In  one  of  these  attacks  on  April  22, 
1915,  gas  was  used  for  the  first  time. 

The  British  and  French  won  a  great  victory  on  the 
Somme,  July,  1916,  taking  nearly  75,000  prisoners. 
This  battle  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  turning  points 
of  the  war,  for  it  caused  the  extensive  retreat  of  the 
Germans  the  following  spring.  The  Huns  devastated 
the  territory  from  which  they  retreated  more  com- 
pletely and  mercilessly  than  any  army,  even  bar- 
barians, had  ev(M'  done  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  Bi'itish  attempted  to  capture  Lille  and 
the  bases  of  the  German  submarines  on  the  Belgian 
coast  at  Ostend  and  Zeebi'ugge,  but  were  unsuccessful. 

Tn  November,  1917,  General  Byng,  in  a  surprise 
attack  in  whicli  for  the  first  time  a  large  luimber  of 
tanks  were  uscmI,  l)i'oke  tlie  famous  Hiiidenburg  Vnn) 
of_  trenches  and  captured   8000  Germans.      He  soon 


324  LEST   WE  FORGET 

lost  all  the  territoiy  he  had  gained  and  many  men, 
through  being  surprised  himself  by  attacks  on  both 
sides  of  the  pocket  or  salient  which  he  had  pushed  into 
the  German  lines. 

The  Battle  of  the  Somme  referred  to  above  was  in- 
tended to  relieve  the  terrible  pressure  of  the  Germans 
on  the  French  forts  at  Verdun.  The  German  Crown 
Prince  had  attacked  these  in  July,  1916,  determined 
to  break  through  at  whatever  cost.  But  the  soul  of 
France  rose  to  the  occasion  and  declared,  ^^They  shall 
not  pass!"  The  Battle  of  Verdun  lasted  from  July 
until  December,  1916.  The  Germans  lost  half  a  million 
men,  but  they  did  not  pass.  Before  many  months  every 
vantage  point  which  the  Germans  had  won  was  back  in 
French  hands. 

In  1917,  the  French  pushed  the  Germans  back  be- 
tween Rheims  and  Soissons  to  the  Ailette  River,  where 
they  remained  until  the  Second  Battle  of  the  Marne, 
July,  1918. 

Little  of  importance  happened  during  the  mnter  of 
1917  and  1918,  and  Germany,  with  Russia  out  of  the 
way,  prepared  to  deliver  a  final  blow  and  win  the  war, 
before  American  troops  should  arrive  in  force.  The 
Germans,  with  large  numbers  of  troops  from  the  eastern 
front,  were  so  confident,  that  great  fear  was  felt  among 
the  Allies  that  America  would  be  too  late. 

The  German  plan  as  it  unfolded  itself  was  to  attack, 
wave  after  wave,  mth  tremendous  numbers  of  men ; 


THE  WORLD   WAR  325 

to  use  great  quantities  of  a  new  and  more  terrible  gas ; 
to  pay  no  attention  to  losses,  but  to  break  through 
where  the  French  and  English  lines  joined;  then  to 
push  the  French  south  towards  Paris  and  the  English 
north  towards  the  sea.  They  expected  to  take  Amiens, 
forty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Somme,  and  to  push 
down  the  river  to  the  sea.  With  the  broad  river  be- 
tween them  and  the  French,  a  small  force  could  keep 
the  French  from  crossing,  while  the  great  German 
army  captured  or  destroyed  the  British,  who  would 
be  hemmed  in  by  the  sea. 

The  attack  was  launched  on  March  21  over  a  front 
of  fifty  miles  and  it  nearly  succeeded.  It  brought 
the  Germans  to  within  six  miles  of  Amiens,  which 
would  have  been  captured  if  the  English  on  Vimy 
Ridge  had  not  prevented  them  by  hollaing  the  German 
line  from  advancing.  The  Germans  waited  a  month, 
planning  an  attack  which  should  capture  Vimy  Ridge 
and  prepare  the  way  for  the  capture  of  Amiens.  In 
this  they  were  unsuccessful. 

Not  being  able  to  divide  the  armies  of  the  French 
and  English  or  to  take  the  Channel  ports,  they  turned 
in  May  toward  Paris.  They  attacked  in  tremendous 
force  between  Rheims  and  Soissons  and  pushed  for- 
ward thirty-two  miles  to  the  Marne.  On  July  15  they 
launched  another  great  offensive  over  a  front  of  fifty 
miles  from  east  of  Rheims  to  west  of  Chateau-Thierry. 
They  crossed  the  Marne  and  were  making  some  progress 


326  LEST   WIC   FORGET 

wluMi,  on  July  IS,  th(>  I'l'cncli  and  AnuM'icans  sti'uck 
thcni  on  \\\v  think  hctwcH'ii  Soissoiis  imtl  Cliateau- 
Thiein-.  Tlie  (icrnians  were  forced  to  retreat,  liavino; 
lost  220.000  men,  iiundreds  of  guns,  and  vast  stores. 

At  this  tinie  o\-er  1,000,000  American  soldiers  were 
in  France.  They  arrived  in  time  and  showed  them- 
selves 'Hhe  bravest  of  the  brave."  One  of  the  Ameri- 
can units  was  granted,  for  its  braver}^  in  the  Second 
Battle  of  the  Alarne,  the  only  regimental  decoration 
ever  awarded  bj'  France  to  a  foreign  regiment ;  and 
the  French  commander  bestowed  upon  one  division 
the  most  thrilling  praise.  ''They  showed,"  he  said, 
•'discipline  that  filled  the  Germans  with  surprise. 
They  marched  with  officers  at  the  sides  and  with 
closed  ranks  exactlj^  like  veteran  French  troops." 

Italy  began  operations  against  Austria  in  Ma3^ 
1915.  For  more  than  two  years,  she  advanced  over 
almost  impassable  mountain  ranges  to  the  reconquest 
of  the  territory  Austria  had  stolen  from  her.  Then,  in 
October,  1917,  Itah^  met  with  a  terrible  disaster;  she 
lost  180,000  men  and  was  driven  back  to  the  river 
Piave.  and  to  within  fifteen  miles  of  Venice.  This 
costly  defeat  was  due  ]:)artly  to  lack  of  supplies  which 
her  allies  should  have  furnished  her ;  partl}^  to  printed 
lies  dropped  from  Austrian  airplanes  among  the  Italian 
soldiers  telling  of  the  wonderful  peace  and  liberty  that 
had  come  to  Russia,  where  Germans  and  Russians  were 
like  brothers ;  and  partly  to  the  mistake  of  Italy  and 


THE  WORLD  WAR  327 

her  commanders.  It  resulted  in  making  all  the  Allies 
realize  that  they  could  not  succeed  separately  but 
must  work  together  as  one,  if  they  were  going  to  win ; 
and  in  the  appointment  of  General  Ferdinand  Foch 
as  commander  in  chief  of  all  the  allied  forces  in  the 
West,  including  European  Russia. 

In  the  spring  of  1918,  the  Austrians,  at  Germany's 
command,  renewed  their  attack  and  succeeded  in  cross- 
ing the  Piave,  which  in  its  upper  reaches  towards  the 
mountains  was  almost  a  dry  river  bed.  They  waited 
until,  as  they  supposed,  the  mountain  snows  had 
melted.  After  many  of  them  were  across  and  after 
they  had  been  checked  on  the  western  bank  by  the 
Italians,  they  attempted  to  recross  the  river.  In  the 
meantime  floods  had  poured  down  from  the  mountains 
changing  the  dry  bed  into  a  rushing  river,  deep  and 
broad,  in  which  thousands  of  the  Austrians  were  lost. 
Austria  was  able  to  make  no  further  effort. 

THE    EASTERN    FRONT 

Russia  was  the  first  of  the  Great  Powers  among  the 
Allies  to  enter  the  war,  but  Germany  did  not  count 
upon  her  remaining  in  it  long.  German  influence, 
especially  that  of  the  German  Socialists  with  the  un- 
educated Russians,  was  so  strong  that  the  Kaiser  ex- 
pected a  revolution  long  before  it  happened.  The 
Russian  leaders  were  self-seeking,  and  the  Tsar  and 
his  advisers  were  lacking  in  ability   and  force.     The 


328  LEST  WE  FORGET 

Germans  tliought  Russia  would  collapse  very  soon, 
and  thus  leave  Germany  free  to  turn  and  conquer 
France;  after  which  they  could  settle  with  England, 
and  then  with  the  United  States. 

Until  the  close  of  1916,  the  Russian  armies  gave  the 
Germans  fierce  opposition  except  when,  through  treach- 
ery of  the  officers  of  the  government,  supplies  and 
ammunition  were  withheld  and  the  soldiers  had  to 
fight  cannon,  machine  guns,  and  rifles  with  the  butts 
of  their  muskets.  Of  course  the  Russians  were  driven 
back,  but  not  until  they  had  come  within  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  miles  of  Berlin,  which  was  the  nearest 
approach  of  an  enemy  army  during  the  first  four  years 
of  the  war. 

In  the  fall  of  1914,  the  Russian  armies  suffered 
through  treachery  a  terrible  defeat  near  Tannenberg 
in  the  Masurian  Lake  region  of  East  Prussia,  but  the 
great  leader  of  their  armies  farther  south,  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  invaded  Austria,  capturing  stronghold  after 
stronghold  until  treachery  of  Russian  officials  forced 
him  to  retreat.  The  retreat  of  his  armies  was  con- 
ducted in  so  masterly  a  manner  that  it  has  ranked  him 
as  one  of  the  great  generals  of  the  World  War. 

As  soon  as  German  money  and  German  lies  had 
undermined  the  directing  forces  at  the  Russian  capital, 
it  was  an  easy  matter  for  German  armies  to  overrun 
Russian  Poland,  to  capture  Warsaw  and  the  great  Rus- 
sian fortresses,  and  to  advance  as  far  north  as  Riga. 


THE  WORLD  WAR  329 

Then  in  the  spring  of  1917  came  the  revolution,  when 
the  Duma  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the  Tsar.  The 
soldiers  sided  with  the  people ;  the  Tsar  was  thrown 
into  prison,  to  be  shot  more  than  a  year  later.  Ger- 
many made  a  ^' peace  drive,"  and  soon  had  the  entire 
Russian  army  ready  to  quit.  Leaders  in  the  service 
of  Germany,  like  Lenine,  used  dreamers  like  Trotsky 
to  help  on  the  breaking  up  of  Russia.  Kerensky,  who 
had  been  chosen  to  lead  the  government  after  the  first 
revolution,  was  deposed  and  obliged  to  flee  the  country 
as  the  result  of  a  second  revolution  by  soldiers,  sailors, 
and  workmen.  Lenine  became  Prime  Minister  and 
Trotsky,  Foreign  Minister.  Then  the  way  was  claar 
for  Germany  to  work  her  will.  Agreeing  to  all  pro- 
posals, she  led  the  BolsheviJd,  which  means  ''the  ma- 
jorit}^,"  into  such  a  situation  that  they  were  powerless. 
Then  throwing  aside  all  her  agreements,  she  forced 
them  to  sign  the  disgraceful  treaty  of  peace  at  Brest- 
Litovsk.  It  broke  up  a  portion  of  the  old  Russia  into 
several  nations  or  independent  provinces,  which  sepa- 
rated the  Russia  that  remained  entirely  from  the  rest 
of  Europe.  The  provinces,  Ukraine,  Poland,  Finland, 
Esthonia,  Livonia,  Courland,  and  Lithuania  were 
reall}^  dependencies  of  Germany.  Turkey  was  also 
rewarded  by  receiving  a  part  of  Transcaucasia,  which 
Germany  later  attempted  to  take  from  her. 

The  Germans  promised  not  to  use  soldiers  from  the 
eastern   front    against    Russia's   former   allies   in   the 


330  LEST  WE  FORGET 

West;  but  this  promise  was  only  another  "scrap  of 
paper,"  and  she  transferred  vast  numbers  to  the  front 
in  Italy  and  in  France  and,  by  their  help,  nearly  won 
her  great  drives  of  1918. 

When  Russia  collapsed  and  made  peace  with  the 
Central  Powers,  Roumania,  who  entered  the  war  on 
the  side  of  the  Allies,  August  27,  1916,  was  left  en- 
tirely surrounded  by  enemies  and,  to  save  herself 
from  the  fate  of  Belgium  and  Serbia,  was  obliged  to 
consent  to  peace  terms  offered  by  Germany.  She 
ceded  a  large  part  of  her  territory  south  of  the  Danube 
to  Bulgaria,  who  had  joined  the  Central  Powers  "for 
what  she  could  get  out  of  it,"  on  October  4,  1915. 
Bulgaria's  king  is  called  "The  Fox  of  the  Balkans'' 
and  looks  upon  agreements,  treaties,  and  honesty  in 
the  German  manner.  Like  the  Germans,  all  his  acts 
show  that  he  believes  "might  is  right"  and  that  any 
act  is  justified  if  necessary  to  his  success. 

THE  DARDANELLES  AND  FARTHER  EAST 

In  the  spring  of  1915,  English  and  French  fleets  at- 
tempted to  force  the  Dardanelles,  but  failed.  Had  the 
straits  been  opened  and  Constantinople  taken,  Russia 
would  probably  have  been  saved  and  the  war  shortened. 
i\Iany  believe  now  that  a  mistake  was  made  in  not 
sacrificing  the  ships  necessary  to  force  the  straits  and 
to  capture  Constantinople,  but  at  the  time  the  French 
and  British  leaders  were  unwilling  to  make  the  sacrifice. 


THE  WORLD   WAR  '  331 

Troops  had  been  landed  at  Gallipoli  to  assist  the  fleets, 
but  they  were  withdrawn  in  January,  1916. 

England  sent  an  expedition  from  the  Persian  Gulf 
to  capture  Bagdad  in  the  fall  of  1914.  It  was  small  in 
numbers  and  suffered  some  reverses,  but  succeeded  in 
capturing  the  city  on  March  11,  1917. 

When  Turkey  entered  the  war  on  the  side  of  the 
Central  Powers,  the  Germans  hoped  to  stir  up  a  re- 
ligious war,  uniting  all  the  Mohammedans  in  the  East 
under  the  lead  of  Turkey,  against  the  Christian  nations. 
All  Mohammedans,  however,  do  not  recognize  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  as  their  leader,  and  the  King  of  Hedjaz 
revolted  against  Turkey  in  June,  1916.  Hedjaz  in- 
cludes all  the  Arab  tribes  between  the  Tigris  on  the 
east  and  Syria  on  the  west.  Arabia  forms  the  largest 
part  of  the  territory  of  this  kingdom. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  King  of  Hedjaz,  the  Eng- 
lish have  been  able,  by  advancing  across  the  Sinai 
Desert,  to  capture  Jerusalem.  Jerusalem,  the  Holy  City 
of  the  Christians,  has  been  in  Mohammedan  hands, 
except  for  two  short  periods,  for  seven  hundred  and 
thirty  years.  The  Crusades  were  fought  to  take  it 
from  them,  and  ever  since,  Christians  have  mourned 
that  it  had  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Moslems. 
It  probably  will  never  again  pass  from  the  control  of 
Christian  nations. 

Japan  entered  the  war  early,  August  23,  1914,  as 
an  ally  of  Great  Britain  and,  on  November  7,  had  taken 


332  LEST   WE   FORGET 

the  only  German  colony  in  China,  Tsingtau.  Germany 
had  forced  this  from  China,  as  punishment  for  the 
murder  of  two  German  missionaries.  Japan  and  Aus- 
traUa  soon  captured  all  the  German  possessions  in  the 
Pacific,  and  Great  Britain  all  the  German  colonies  in 
Africa,  leaving  Germany  without  a  single  colonial 
possession. 

THE    SEA 

The  Kaiser  is  reported  to  have  said,  '' Germany's 
future  lies  on  the  sea" ;  and  it  seems  as  if  the  control 
of  the  sea  by  the  Allies  has  really  determined  her  future, 
for  had  the  Central  Powers  controlled  the  sea,  they 
would  have  won  the  war. 

B}^  the  wise  foresight  of  those  directing  the  move- 
ments of  the  British  navy,  the  Grand  Fleet,  numbering 
about  four  hundred  vessels,  had  been  assembled  for 
inspection  just  before  the  war  broke  out,  and  they  were 
ready,  when  England  entered  the  war,  to  move  to 
ports  from  which  they  could  attack  the  Germans,  if 
the  latter  should  decide  to  send  out  their  fleet.  The 
Grand  Fleet  has  all  through  the  war  remained  hidden, 
and,  like  some  invisible  power,  is  protecting  the  freedom 
of  the  world.  Hundreds  of  swift  scout  ships  keep 
watch  ready  to  report  every  move  of  the  enemy.  Only 
once  has  Germany  come  out  in  force,  to  be  driven  back 
to  shelter,  defeated,  in  the  Battle  of  Jutland,  May  31, 
and  June  1,  1916. 

Germany  placed  her  hopes  in  the  submarine,  but 


THE  WORLD   WAR  333 

she  has  had  Uttle  chance  to  use  it  against  EngUsh  war 
vessels.  She  also  scattered  mines  upon  the  high  seas 
in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war  and  of  nations.  One  of 
these  mines  on  June  5,  1916,  sank  the  British  cruiser 
Hampshire,  which  was  carrying  Lord  Kitchener  to 
Russia.     Lord  Kitchener  and  his  staff  were  lost. 

Germany  used  every  power  in  her  hands  to  win, 
never  hesitating  to  set  aside  the  laws  of  nations  or  the 
opinions  of  civilized  men.  So  she  turned  her  sub- 
marines against  merchant  ships  in  violation  of  inter- 
national law.  The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was  the 
first  great  shock  to  the  United  States.  President 
Wilson  protested  on  behalf  of  the  American  people, 
and  after  other  merchant  vessels  had  been  sunk  and 
more  American  lives  lost,  Germany  was  given  her 
choice  of  a  break  with  America  or  of  promising  that  she 
would  give  up  her  submarine  attacks  without  warning 
upon  merchant  ships.  Germany  promised  to  do  so, 
but  made  this  promise,  as  the  United  States  learned 
later,  only  to  give  her  time  to  build  enough  submarines 
to  starve  out  England  in  a  year  or  less  by  using  them 
against  merchant  ships  in  violation  of  her  agreement 
with  the  United  States.  It  was  only  another  ''scrap  of 
paper." 

So  America  entered  the  war  April  6,  1917,  and  at 
once  the  danger  from  submarines  began  to  grow  less, 
for  American  destroyers,  combined  with  those  of  the 
other  Allies,  soon  were  sinking  submarines  faster  than 


334  LEST  WE  FORGET 

Germany  could  build  them,  and  American  shipyards 
began  to  turn  out  merchant  ships  in  such  unheard-of 
niunbers  that  the  sinking  of  a  few  ships  each  month 
became  a  minor  matter.  At  the  close  of  the  fourth 
year  of  the  war,  an  English  writer  said  of  what  America 
had  done  in  one  year : 

It  would  be  idle  to  recount  here  what  America  has  done.  But 
for  what  she  has  done  the  heart  of  ever}^  Briton  beats  with  grati- 
tude. There  is  physical  evidence  of  it  over  here.  American 
soldiers  throng  the  streets.  American  sailors  gather  in  our  ports. 
American  naval  vessels  are  scouring  our  home  waters  in  fullest 
cooperation  with  the  British  and  French  and  have  reduced  the 
destruction  by  submarine  pirates  b}''  more  than  half  what  it  was 
one  year  ago.  On  land  they  are  fighting  with  the  Allies  the  battles 
of  civilization  and  dying  for  its  ideals,  and  the  fondest  wish  of 
every  patriot  both  here  and  in  France  is  that  the  community  of 
feehng  thus  cemented  in  blood  will  never  pass  away. 

In  October,  1918,  there  Avere  about  two  million 
American  soldiers  in  France.  They  had  made  possible 
the  great  victories,  beginning  with  the  Second  Battle 
of  the  Marne,  by  which  all  the  German  gains  of  1918 
were  mped  out  and  the  St.  Mihiel  salient  recoveied. 
The  Huns  had  heM  this  salient  since  1914.  Its  capture 
was  a  brilliant  victory  for  the  American  army  under 
General  Pershing.  It  was  accomplished  in  twenty- 
seven  hours. 

King  George  of  England  wired  President  Wilson  as 
follows : 


THE  WORLD  WAR  335 

London,  Sept.  14,  1918. 

On  behalf  of  the  British  Empire,  I  heartily  congratulate  you  on 
the  brilliant  achievement  of  the  American  and  Allied  troops  under 
the  leadership  of  General  Pershing  in  the  St.  Mihiel  salient. 

The  far-reaching  results  secured  by  these  successful  operations, 
which  have  marked  the  active  intervention  of  the  American  army 
on  a  great  scale  under  its  own  administration,  are  the  happiest 
augury  for  the  complete,  and,  I  hope,  not  far-distant  triumph  of 
the  Allied  cause. 

President  Wilson  cabled  to  General  Pershing : 

Please  accept  my  warmest  congratulations  on  the  brilliant 
achievements  of  the  army  under  your  command.  The  boys  have 
done  what  we  expected  of  them  and  done  it  in  the  way  we  most 
admire. 

We  are  deeply  proud  of  them  and  of  their  chief.  Please  con- 
ve}^  to  all  concerned  my  grateful  and  affectionate  thanks. 

Frank  H.  Simonds,  the  famous  military  critic,  says : 

In  our  own  national  historj^,  therefore,  as  in  world  history, 
the  Battle  of  St.  Mihiel  will  have  an  enduring  place.  To  the 
world  it  announced  the  arrival  of  America  in  her  appointed  place 
in  the  battle  line  of  civilization.  .  .  .  The  road  from  Concord 
Bridge  to  the  heights  above  the  Meuse  is  long,  but  it  runs  straight, 
and  along  it  men  are  still  led  by  the  same  love  of  liberty  and 
service  of  democracy  which  was  revealed  in  our  first  battle  morn- 
ing nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ago. 

At  the  beginning  of  October,  1918,  the  Allies  were 
everywhere  successful,  in  Palestine,  in  the  Balkans, 
ill  northern  Russia,  in  Siberia,  and  on  the  western 
front.  The  world  was  proving  again  that  deceit  and 
violence  always  lose  in  the  long  run. 


336  LEST    WE   FOKCiET 

THE    FINAL    CHAPTER    OF   THE    WAR 

In  .Iiily,  nils,  the  western  battle  lin(\  runnin<>;  from 
the  North  Sea  to  Switzerland,  was,  in  general,  a  huge 
cur\  ('  bending  into  France.  Germany  had  been  working 
on  interior  lines  on  this  western  front  —  that  is,  as  her 
forces  wci'e  needed  to  defend  or  to  attack,  she  moved 
them  from  place  to  place  on  the  inside  of  the  circle. 
The  Allies  were  obliged  to  work  on  the  outside  of  the 
circle  and  were  therefore  at  a  considerable  disadvantage. 

Then,  too,  the  Germans  had  the  initiative,  that  is, 
they  could  determine  when  and  where  to  attack,  while 
the  Allies  in  1918,  up  to  Juh'  18,  were  having  all  they 
could  attend  to  in  defending  themselves  and  preventing 
a  serious  break  in  their  lines. 

With  July  18,  1918,  all  this  was  changed.  The  Alhed 
forces  were  now  under  the  direction  of  a  single  com- 
mander, Alarshal  Foch,  one  of  the  great  miHtary 
geniuses  of  all  time.  His  plan  was  to  strike  at  a  weak- 
ened i^oint;  then,  when  the  Germans  had  rushed  re- 
inforcements to  ward  off  the  danger,  to  strike  at  some 
other  point  in  the  line  and  thus  use  up  the  German 
reserves;  and  to  give  the  German  commanders  no  time 
to  prepare  an  offensive  on  a  large  scale.  The  German 
by  nature  seems  to  think  that  size  determines  victory. 
The  big  things  seem  to  him  the  things  that  are  effective 
and  tliat  win.  So  his  offensives  were  planned  on  a 
great  scale  and  required  months  of  preparation;  and 


THE   WORLD   WAR  337 

after  one  offensive  had  been  stopped,  he  required  more 
months  of  comparative  rest  to  plan  and  prepare 
another.  The  French  nature  is  different;  it  is  subtle, 
deft,  and  skillful,  and  by  repeated  strokes  of  less  force, 
often  accomplishes  what  the  German  fails  to  do  with 
one  mighty  blow.  In  riveting  the  plates  on  a  ship,  or  in 
joining  the  framework  of  a  steel  skyscraper,  a  riveting 
machine  is  used  which,  by  very  rapidly  repeated  blows, 
does  the  work  quickly  and  well.  Somewhat  in  this  way 
did  Marshal  Foch  strike  the  German  line,  now  in  this 
spot,  now  in  that,  capturing  or  putting  out  of  action 
large  numbers  of  German  troops,  outflanking  first  one 
strategic  point  and  then  another.  As  a  consequence, 
the  German  line  was  obliged  to  draw  back  and  back  to 
prevent  the  Allies  from  breaking  through  and  attack- 
ing the  German  supply  trains  coming  up  in  the  rear  with 
food  and  munitions. 

West  of  Verdun  the  Germans  had  come  into  Belgium 
and  France  along  the  line  of  the  Meuse  through  Liege 
and  Namur,  and  across  Luxemburg  by  the  main  rail- 
way through  Sedan.  Could  either  of  these  great  lines 
of  communication  be  captured,  the  Germans  would  be 
unable  to  withdraw  to  their  own  territory  without  terri- 
ble losses,  if  at  all;  for  between  their  armies  and  Ger- 
many lay  the  great  forest  region  of  Ardennes  with  but 
few  roads.  Two  millions  of  men  could  not  retreat 
through  this  region  without  leaving  guns  and  munitions 
behind  and  their  retreat  becoming  a  rout. 


3;^8  LEST    \V1-:    l-X)RC;i^T 

From  ^'el■dun  the  Mouse  River  runs  north  and  west 
to  Sedan  and  to  the  raih'oad  which  extended  from  the 
German  Hnt\^  through  Luxemburg  to  Germany.  Mar- 
shal Foch  honored  General  Pershing  and  the  American 
troops  by  assigning  to  them  the  difficult  task  of  advanc- 
ing from  \Vrdun  through  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  to 
Sedan.  The  story  of  the  fighting  of  the  Americans  in 
this  advance  is  a  story  glowing  with  deeds  of  heroism 
and  of  reckless  daring,  a  story  of  the  overcoming  of 
almost  impossible  difficulties  and  of  final  victory.  At 
Sedan  in  1870,  the  Germans  humbled  the  French  and 
decided  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  It  is  a  strange  turn 
of  history  that,  with  the  capture  of  Sedan  from  the 
Germans  in  1918,  the  AVorld  War  was  practically  de- 
cided and  ended. 

The  Allied  arm}-  from  Salonica,  with  the  help  of  the 
Serbians,  had  conquered  Bulgaria  late  in  September, 
and  she  had  surrendered  unconditionally,  thus  cutting 
off  Germany  and  Austria  from  communication  with  their 
all3%  Turkey.  General  AUenby's  conquest  of  Palestine 
and  occupation  of  Aleppo  brought  Turkey  to  realize  that 
she  was  helpless.  She  surrendered  the  last  of  October. 
Then  the  strengthened  and  refreshed  Italian  army  at- 
tacked the  Austrians  on  the  Piave  in  Italy  and  won  per- 
haps the  most  complete  victory  of  the  war  on  the  western 
front,  capturing  over  five  hundred  thousand  prisoners 
and  completely  breaking  Austria's  power  for  further 
resistance.     Austria  surrendered  on  November  4. 


THE   WORLD   WAR  339 

Thus  Germany  was  left  alone,  open  to  attack  on  her 
southern  and  eastern  fronts,  while  being  hopelessly 
beaten  in  the  west.  She  asked  President  Wilson  to 
secure  an  armistice  from  the  Allied  nations.  The  Presi- 
dent had  declared  earlier  in  the  war  that  we  would  never 
deal  with  the  Kaiser  and  the  autocratic  rulers  of  Ger- 
many who  had  repeatedly  broken  their  word  to  us  and 
to  other  nations.  The  German  people,  aware  of  this 
fact,  were  taking  things  into  their  own  hands,  and  the 
German  Revolution  had  really  begun. 

The  German  Chancellor  informed  President  Wilson 
that  Germany  had  changed  its  form  of  government  and 
was  now  being  ruled  by  those  responsible  to  the  Ger- 
man people,  and  that  the  German  government  was 
willing  to  make  peace  on  the  basis  of  President  Wilson's 
Fourteen  Points,  as  stated  on  January  8,  1918,  and  of 
his  later  declarations,  particularly  that  of  September  27, 
1918. 

After  some  correspondence,  the  President  referred  the 
German  government  to  Marshal  Foch.  Envoys  were 
sent  from  Spa,  the  German  headquarters,  under  flag  of 
truce  to  the  headquarters  of  Marshal  Foch  in  a  railroad 
car  near  Senlis.  The  terms  of  the  armistice  made  it 
absolutely  impossible  for  Germany  to  renew  the  war 
after  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  for  she  was  obliged  to 
evacuate  all  invaded  territory,  to  remove  all  her  troops 
twenty  miles  back  from  the  Rhine,  and  to  give  the 
control  of  the  river  and  its  crossings  to  the  Allies.    She 


340  LEST   WE   FORGET 

was  also  forced  to  surrender  vast  quantities  of  large  and 
small  guns,  two  thousand  air-planes,  all  her  submarines, 
and  the  greater  part  of  her  na\y.  She  was  practically 
to  give  over  the  control  of  her  railways  and  shipping 
to  the  Allies  and  to  renounce  the  unfair  treaties  with 
Russia  and  Roumania.  Alsace-Lorraine  was  to  be 
returned  to  France,  and  Belgium  and  northern  France 
restored.  The  armistice  was  signed  by  the  Germans 
on  November  11,  1918.  It  has  been  called  the  most 
complete  surrender  ever  known,  but  Germany  had  no 
choice,  for  her  armies  were  defeated  and  her  navy  had 
no  hope  in  a  battle  against  the  overwhelming  odds  of 
the  Allies. 

Der  Tag  or  ''The  Day"  for  which  haughty  Germans 
had  hoped,  had  come,  but  how  different  from  the  day 
they  had  imagined !  When  the  white  flag  of  truce  was 
raised  on  the  German  battle  line,  the  red  flag  of  revolu- 
tion was  unfurled  in  Berlin  and  other  German  cities. 
The  Kaiser  had  abdicated,  the  Crown  Prince  had  re- 
nounced his  right  to  the  throne,  and  both  had  taken 
refuge  in  Holland.  Other  German  kings  were  abdicating 
and  royal  princes  were  fleeing  for  safety. 

Great  celebrations  were  held  in  the  Allied  countries. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  people  in  the  great  cities  of  America 
had  gone  wild  with  joy.  President  Wilson  appeared  in 
the  hall  of  the  national  House  of  Representatives  at 
one  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  November  11, 
and  announced  the  signing  of  the  armistice  and  its  terms 


THE  WORLD   WAR  341 

and  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  He  asked  America  to 
show  a  spirit  of  helpfulness  rather  than  one  of  revenge 
toward  the  conquered  Germans,  concluding  his  mes- 
sage as  follows: 

The  present  and  all  that  it  holds  belongs  to  the  nations  and 
the  peoples  who  preserve  their  self-control  and  the  orderly  proc- 
esses of  their  governments;  the  future  to  those  who  prove  them- 
selves the  true  friends  of  manlcind.  To  conquer  with  arms  is  to 
make  only  a  temporary  conquest.  I  am  confident  that  the  nations 
that  have  learned  the  discipline  of  freedom  and  that  have  settled 
with  self-possession  to  its  ordered  practice  are  now  about  to  make 
conquest  of  the  world  by  the  sheer  power  of  example  and  of 
friendly  helpfulness. 

The  peoples  who  have  but  just  come  out  from  under  the  yoke 
of  arbitrary  government  and  who  are  now  coming  at  last  into  their 
freedom,  will  never  find  the  treasures  of  liberty  they  are  in  search 
of  if  they  look  for  them  by  the  light  of  the  torch.  They  will  find 
that  every  pathway  that  is  stained  with  blood  of  their  own  brothers 
leads  to  the  wilderness,  not  to  the  seat  of  their  hope.  They  are 
now  face  to  face  with  their  initial  test.  We  must  hold  the  light 
steady  imtil  they  find  themselves.  And  in  the  meantime,  if  it  be 
possible,  we  must  establish  a  peace  that  will  justly  define  their 
place  among  the  nations,  remove  all  fear  of  their  neighbors  and 
of  their  former  masters,  and  enable  them  to  live  in  security  and 
contentment  when  they  have  set  their  own  affairs  in  order.  I, 
for  one,  do  not  doubt  their  purpose  or  their  capacity.  There  are 
some  happy  signs  that  they  know  and  will  choose  the  wa}'  of 
self-control  and  peaceful  accommodation.  If  they  do,  we  shall 
put  our  aid  at  their  disposal  in  every  way  that  we  can.  If  they 
do  not,  we  must  await  with  patience  and  sympathy  the  awakenmg 
and  recovery  that  will  assuredly  come  at  last. 


3-42  LEST   WE   FORGET 

To  the  people  of  the  United  States  he  sent  the  follow- 
ing message: 

My  Fellow  Coiintryiiien:  The  armistice  was  signed  this 
morning.  Everything  for  which  America  fought  has  been  accom- 
plished. It  will  now  he  t)ur  fortunate  duty  to  assist,  by  example, 
by  sober,  friendly  council,  and  by  material  aid,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  just  democracy  throughout  the  world. 

WooDRow^  Wilson. 

Xo  one  can  foretell  all  that  this  victory,  won  through 
the  most  terrible  suffering  and  sacrifice  the  world  has 
ever  been  called  upon  to  bear,  means  to  mankind;  but 
we  know  it  means  a  new  day  and  a  new  opportunity  for 
millions  of  down-trodden  men  and  women  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  It  means  giving  a  new  world  of  democracy 
and  equalit}'  of  opportunity  to  those  who  never  dreamed 
this  possible,  except  by  leaving  their  native  lands  and 
coming  to  America.  It  means  bringing  all  that  America 
means  to  us  to  races  that  for  centuries  have  lived  with- 
out hope.  It  means  the  downfall  and  the  punishment  of 
those  who  would  selfishly  rise  by  the  persecution  and 
suffering  of  others.  It  means  that  in  the  end  right  must 
always  conquer  might. 


NATIONS   AND   THE   MORAL   LAW 

I  BELIEVE  there  is  no  permanent  greatness  to  a 
nation  except  it  be  based  upon  morality.  I  do  not 
care  for  military  greatness  or  military  renown.  I  care 
for  the  condition  of  the  people  among  whom  I  live. 
Crowns,  coronets,  mitres,  military  display,  t'le  pomp  of 
war,  wide  colonies,  and  a  huge  empire  are  in  my  view  all 
trifles,  light  as  air  and  not  worth  considering,  unless 
wdth  them  you  can  have  a  fair  share  of  comfort,  con- 
tentment, and  happiness  among  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  Palaces,  baronial  castles,  great  halls,  stately 
mansions,  do  not  make  a  nation.  The  nation  in  everj^ 
country  dwells  in  the  cottage. 

I  ask  you  then  to  believe,  as  I  do  most  devoutly 
believe,  that  the  moral  law  was  not  written  for  men 
alone  in  their  individual  character,  but  that  it  was 
written  as  well  for  nations. 

If  nations  reject  and  deride  that  moral  law,  there 
is  a  penalty  which  will  inevitably  follow.  It  may  not 
come  at  once,  it  may  not  come  in  our  life-time ;  but 
rely  upon  it,  the  great  Italian  is  not  a  poet  onl}^,  but 
a  prophet,  when  he  says : 

The  sword  of  heaven  is  not  in  haste  to  smite, 
Nor  yet  cloth  linger. 

John  Bright. 
343 


PRONOUNCING  VOCABULARY 


Foreign  sounds  which  cannot  be  exactly  reproduced  in  English  are 
represented  by  their  nearest  English  equivalents. 


Aerschot  (ar'skQt) 

Ailette  (ail  et') 

Aisne  (ain) 

Aix-la-Chapelle  (aiks'-la-sha  pel') 

Alsace  (al  sass') 

Amiens  (a  mee  ang') 

Ancre  (iing'kr) 

Andenne  (ang  den') 

Aonzo  (a  on'zo) 

Arras  (a  rass') 

Ausweiss  (ows'viz) 

Auteuil  (o  ter'ye) 

Battice  (bat  tees') 
Belfort  (bel  for') 
Belloy-en-Santerre       (bel  wa'-ang- 

siing  tair') 
Bernstorff  (berns'torf) 
Bethmann-HoUweg  (bait'man-hoU' 

vaik) 
Boche  (bosh) 
Boelke  (bal'ke) 
Boers  (boors) 

Bolsheviki  (bol  shay'vee  kee') 
Bonnier  (bon  ce  ay') 
Bordeaux  (bor  do') 
Bouee  Hjoo  ay'j 
Boulogne  (lioolon'j 
Brest-Litovsk  (br6st'-ly6  tOfsk') 
Bruges  (breezh) 


Brussels  (brus'elz) 
Buccari  (book  ka'ree) 
Bueken  (bee'ken) 
Billow  (bee'lo) 

Calais  (ka  lay') 

Cambrai  (kam  bray') 

Carnegie  (kiir  neg'i) 

Castelnau  (kas  tel  no') 

Celle  (tsel'e) 

Chalons  (sha  long') 

Champagne  (sham  pain') 

Chandos  (chan'dos) 

Charleroi  (fhar  le  rwa') 

Chateau- Thierry  (shji  to'-lee  g  ree') 

Chaudfontaine  (shod  fong  tain') 

Chillon  (shee  yong') 

Cologne  (ko  Ion') 

Courtrai  (koor  tray') 

D'Annunzio  (danoon'tsio) 
De  Bussy  (de  bce'soo) 
Deutschland  iiber  Alias  (doich'lant 

eo'ber  al'gs) 
Devon  (dev'un) 
Dinant  (dee  niing') 
Dixmude  (diksmcod') 
Dniester  (nccs'tcr) 
Douaumont  (doo  a  niong') 
Du  Guesclin  (dec  gay  kliing') 


•Mi 


346 


PRONOUNCING   VOCABULARY 


Dunajec  idoon'ayeck) 
Diirer  i^doc'rer) 
Duruy  {dec  roe  ee') 

Ecole  (ay  kol') 
Embourg  (em  boork') 
Spinal  (ay  pee  nal') 
Evegnee  (6  vain  yay') 

Foch  (fosh) 

franc-tireur  (frang-tee  rer') 

Gallipoli  (gal  lip'o  lee) 
Gemmenich  (gem  men'ik) 
Genet  (zhe  nay') 
Gheluvelt  (hay  lee'velt) 
Ghent  (gent) 
Grietchen  (greet'shen) 
Guynemer  (gwee  nay  may') 

Hague  (haig) 

Havre  (av'r') 

Hedjaz  (hej  az') 

Herve  (herv) 

Hotel  de  Ville  (o  tel'de  veel') 

Huerta  (wair'ta) 

Jagow  (yji'gow) 

Jaroslav  (yil  ro  slav') 

Jassy  (yas'syj 

Jeanne  d'Arc  (zhjin  dark') 

Jeanniot  (zhan  nee  6') 

Joffre  (zhoiY) 

Junkers  (j^oong'kers) 

Kharkov  (karTiof) 
Kiaochau  (kee  ow'ehow) 
Krupp  (IvToop) 
Kultur  (kool  toor') 

Leman  (lee'man) 
Lens  (langj 


Lichnowsky  (lish  nov'skee) 

Ligge  (lee  aizh') 

Lille  (leel) 

Loire  (hvjir) 

Loncin  (long  sSng')' 

Lorraine  (lo  rain') 

Loti,  Pierre  (16  tee',  pee  air') 

Louvain  (loo  vS,ng') 

Lycee  (lee  say') 

Maas  (mils) 
Madero  (ma  day'ro) 
Magdeburg  (mag'de  boork) 
Malines  (ma  leen') 
Manoury  (nianoo'ry) 
Marne  (marn) 
Marseillaise  (mar  se  laz') 
Meaux  (mo) 
Mercier  (mer  seeay') 
Meuse  (merz) 
Mignon  (meen  yong') 
Millerand  (meel  rang') 
Mindanao  (meen  da  na'6) 
Mons  (mongs) 
mooshiki  (moo  shee  kee') 
Moselle  (mo  zel') 
Munsterlagen  (mun  ster  la 'gen) 

Namur  (na  meer') 

noblesse  oblige  (no  bles'  6  bleezh') 

Notre  Dame  (no  tr'  dam') 

Ostend  (6s  tend') 
Ourcq  (oork) 

Pau  (po) 

Piave  (pee  a'vay) 
poilu  (pwa  lee') 
Poincare  (pwang'ka  ray') 
Poiret  (pwa  ray') 
Provenf  e  (pro  vangs') 


PRONOUNCING   VOCABULARY 


34- 


Raemaekers  (rii  ma'kers) 
Rasputin  (ras  pu'tin) 
Reichstag  (richs'tak) 
retournment  (re  toorn  mang') 
Rheims  (reemz) 
Richthofen  (rikt'ho  fen) 
Rivesaltes  (reev  salt') 
Rizzo,  Luigi  (reet'so,  loo  ee'jee) 

St.  Mihiel  (sang'mee  yel') 
Saint  Pierre  (sang  pee  air') 
Saint  Quentin  (sang  kang  tang') 
Sarrail  (sar  I'a'ye) 
Scyros  (si'ros) 
Seine  (sain) 
Seraing  (ser  rang') 
Soissons  (swa  s6ng') 
Somme  (som) 

Tamines  (ta  meen') 
Toul  (tool) 
Tours  (tSor) 
Tsingchau  (tsing'chow) 


Uhlan  (oo'lan) 

Vaux  (vo) 

Verdun  (ver  dung') 

Vesle  (vail) 

Villa  (veel'ya) 

Vimy  (vee'mee) 

Vise  (vees) 

Viva  r  Italia  (vee'va  lee  ta'lee  k) 

Vive  la  France  (veev'la  frjints') 

Vladivostok  (via  dee  vas  tok') 

Von  Diederichs  (fon  dee'der  iks) 

Von  Kluck  (fon  klook) 

vrille  (vree'ye) 

Wackerzeel  (vak'er  tsail') 
Werchter  (verk'ter) 

Ypres  (ee'pr') 
Yser  (ee  say') 

Zeebrugge  (tsay  broog'S) 


THE  RECKONING 

•f 

What  do  they  reck  who  sit  aloof  on  thrones, 
Or  in  the  chambered  chancelleries  apart, 
Playing  the  game  of  state  with  subtle  art. 

If  so  be  they  may  win,  what  wretched  groans 

Rise  from  red  fields,  what  unrecorded  bones 

Bleach  within  shallow  graves,  what  bitter  smart 
Pierces  the  widowed  or  the  orphaned  heart — 

The  unhooded  horror  for  which  naught  atones  ! 

A  word,  a  pen^stroke,  and  this  might  not  be  ! 
But  vengeance,  power 4ust,  festering  jealousy 

Triumph,  and  grim  carnage  stalks  abroad. 
Hark  !  Hear  that  ominous  bugle  on  the  wind  ! 
And  they  who  might  have  stayed  it,  shall  they  find 

No  reckoning  within  the  courts  of  God  ? 

CLINTON   SCOLLARD 


18. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

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